Apple and Raspberry Meringue Crumble with Custard: lovely little pre-desserts served in shot glasses

Ready to be served,  but I forgot to add the meringue to the fruit puree!

Richard Hughes is the chef-proprietor of The Lavender House at Brundall (a village just outside Norwich in Norfolk) and this recipe comes from his first book Hughes Cooking? 2004  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hughes-Cooking-reflections-recipes-Richard/dp/0954763602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379169403&sr=8-1&keywords=Hughes+Cooking%3F  Richard is well known throughout Norfolk for his fabulous restaurant and among other ventures as a lecturer and teacher at the catering department of Norwich City College. The Lavender House (formerly The Old Beams) was lovingly refurbished in 2003 and ever since then I have spent many a happy occasion there from New Years' Eves to meals with friends to cookery courses and themed foodie evenings. It is probably safe to say that Richard Hughes has inspired me with my cooking over the years and has helped me to devise more inventive and creative dishes which I've loved experimenting on with friends! When you visit the restaurant it's the extra touches that really stand out whether it's the delicious canapes on arrival, the amuse-bouches (pre-starters to me!), the home made after dinner chocolates, the hot chocolate that Richard makes especially for me because I don't drink coffee or the pre-desserts. It is these wonderful extras that add to a sense of occasion when you visit the restaurant.

The subtitle of the book is 'The rants, reflections and recipes of Richard Hughes' so you may gather it's not just a bog-standard recipe book but a book with Richard's life story so- far, punctuating the recipes, and all manner of other tales and local knowledge which do make for an interesting read. The recipes are what I would call typical Lavender House fare:  delicious, inventive and using all manner of seasonal produce. Confession time again: I have not cooked from this book before, that said, I have sampled some of these delights whilst dining at the restaurant. For example on page 11 there are a couple of recipes for what Richard calls 'cup-a-soups', pre-starters of a little cup of delicious soup; the cauliflower, smoked cheddar and mustard soup is particularly good. I seem to remember sampling the rather lovely goats cheese and olive tarts on page 35. The roast tomato tart served with chilli ice cream (pages 27-28) is equally gorgeous. I've got my eye on the brioche, whisky and apricot pudding on page 129 as my second foray into this book as I know it'll go down really well with hubby.

The recipe I am profiling this time is on page 153: Apple Meringue Crumble and Custard although I have adapted it to make it a bit more trans-seasonal by adding some raspberries. It's perfect served as a pre-dessert particularly if you are waiting for your pudding to bake/be ready. Alternatively you could serve these at a party or buffet. When I made it I divided the ingredients up to serve 4 but ended up with enough to put into 8 small shot glasses with some crumble and custard sauce left over. I also cheated and bought ready-made custard as this course was part of a number of dishes I was making for my dinner party. If you do want to make your own custard (I know it may be a problem to buy custard for my American friends), I have a recipe for quick custard on my rhubarb crumble blog entry or here's a rather good recipe you could use: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/realpropercustard_65614 . The following quantities are the ones specified in the recipe by Richard, if you find you've got far too much just keep in the fridge for a couple of days, if your home is like ours, it will all soon get gobbled up!


Apple, Raspberry, Meringue Crumble with Custard

Apple Meringue
250 g Bramley apples
100g raspberries
50 g meringue shells, roughly broken
100 g sugar
50 g butter
1 tot of framboise liqueur or Calvados

Gently cooking the apples, raspberries, butter and sugar

1. Peel and core the apples, cut into small dice. Melt the butter, apples, raspberries and sugar until the apples begin to break down.
2. Add the liqueur and remove from the heat.
3. When completely cold, fold in the broken meringue pieces.

Crumble
100 g toasted oats
100 g plain flour ( I used half wholemeal and half white)
100 g butter
75 g sugar
50 g toasted/roasted finely chopped hazelnuts

Preparing the crumble topping

1. Rub the butter into the flour, the oats and the sugar. Mix in the hazelnuts
2. Place on a baking tray and place in the oven at 190 degrees for 10 minutes
3. Allow to cool completely

Have you custard sauce ready, either homemade or a tub of shop-bought!

To assemble: Place the fruit mixture in the base of the glass, add the crumble mix and finally the custard. You can serve immediately so it's warm or chill in the fridge. I like to serve this at room temperature as a make-ahead pre-dessert.

Making room for the custard sauce

A little something before the main pudding, don't forget to include the meringue!

Some dinner- party guests being my guinea pigs!

Next time: A great recipe for Bombay Aloo (Bombay potatoes) courtesy of Kenny McGovern which has to be my current favourite for this tasty dish. Also, I can't resist having a go at his take on a well-known brand of chocolates!