Take part in the Recipes for Life challenge and you could see your dish featured in SWALLOW’s new charity cookbook!
We are now well and truly into rhubarb season, as Sarah who works for SWALLOW knows only too well. She has a huge patch of rhubarb in her garden and she doesn’t know what to do with it. So this month we are using the Recipes for Life challenge to help Sarah out by providing her with lots of delicious ideas on how she can put her rhubarb to good use.
Of course, the rules of the Recipes for Life call for a trio of ingredients, and so we’re teaming the rhubarb with lemon and spice – ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli, cardamom, star anise – whichever spices take your fancy and tickle your taste buds. All you have to do to enter the challenge is to combine these three ingredients to make a tasty, simple and wholesome dish and post it on your blog. Make sure any other ingredients you include are easy to come by.
We’re using Recipes for Life to come up with a stock of easy recipes for members of SWALLOW’s cookery club to make in their sessions. SWALLOW is a fab charity based in Midsomer Norton in South West England, supporting adults with learning disabilities to lead more independent lives. The challenge is running for six months and at the end, the best recipes will be included in SWALLOW’s new cookery book to help raise much-needed funds for the charity.
Recipes for Life: how to enter
- Display the Recipes for Life badge (shown above) on your recipe post, and link back to this challenge post.
- You may enter as many recipe links as you like, so long as they are based on the three main ingredients selected for this month and accompanied only by everyday items.
- Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Tuesday 28 May 2013.
- If you tweet your post, please mention #RecipesforLife, @BangerMashChat and@SWALLOWcharity in your tweet and we will retweet everyone we see.
- Feel free to republish old recipe posts, but please add the information about this challenge and the Recipes for Life badge.
- As entries come in, links to these will be added to this page and at the end of the month there will be a round-up of all entries received.
- SWALLOW staff and members will choose their favourite recipe at the end of each month, and the winner will receive a small prize.
- A selection of recipes entered each month will be featured in the SWALLOW cookbook to be published later this year, helping the charity to raise much-needed funds for its ongoing work.
As my first entry, here’s a very simple rhubarb compote. It’s lovely served with roast duck, pork or lamb, and I’m also rather partial to it in a big thick cheese sandwich.
Rhubarb compote
knob of butter
small onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
150g rhubarb, chopped
handful of sultanas or raisins
2 tbsp apple juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
Melt the butter in a pan and gently cook the onion and ginger until soft and golden. Stir in the mixed spice and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the rhubarb and dried fruit and mix well to coat the fruit in the spicy butter. Cook for a few minutes before adding the apple and lemon juice. Stir and allow to stew gently for around ten minutes until the rhubarb is soft and mushy but still holds its shape. Serve at room temperature.
May’s entries
- Rhubarb, Ginger and Lemon Fool from Under The Blue Gum Tree
- Rhubarb and Lemon Scones from The Garden Deli
- Rhubarb, Lemon and a Spice from Fun as a Gran
- Rhubarb and Vanilla Jam from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families
- Rhubarb Crumble Muffins from Chez Foti
- Spiced Rhubarb and Lemon Sorbet with Cinnamon Cookies from Bangers & Mash
- Rhubarb Ripple Ice Cream with Hazelnut Oat Clusters from Elizabeth’s Kitchen
- Rhubarb, Lemon and Ginger Friands from JibberJabberUK
- Spiced Lemon & Rhubarb Cheesecake from Rich In Flavour
- Spiced Rhubarb & Lemon Muffins from Farmersgirl Kitchen
- Rhubarb Syllabub from Fun as a Gran
- Lavender Poached Rhubarb with Ginger Custard Cream from How to Cook Good Food
- Fennel Rhubarb Foolish from Edible Things
- Rhubarb Ripple Ice Cream with Mini Spiced Lemon Cookies from The Crazy Kitchen
- Pork and Rhubarb Curry with Lemon Pilau Rice from Spurs Cook
- Moroccan Lamb & Rhubarb with Lemon & Coriander Cous Cous from The Crazy Kitchen
- Rhubarb, Lemon and Ginger Cake from JibberJabberUK
- Rhubarb and Custard Crumble Pizza from The Crazy Kitchen
- Lemon and Rhubarb Pudding from The Crazy Kitchen
- Cheese and Rhubarb Chutney Tart from The Crazy Kitchen
- Rhubarb Ice Cream with Lemon Spiced Biscuits from The Grumbling Tummy
- Poached Rhubarb Spaghetti from The Good Stuff
- Rhubarb Cinnamon Cake from Bangers & Mash
Bangers & Mash 
Ha ha, co-incidentally I’ve just blogged a Rhubarb Tart recipe, no lemon but it does include ginger! I shall of course be thinking up a new Rhubarb treat that fits the challenge!!! Loving your savoury compote, might just have to try this with some of our local duck.
I love the look of your rhubarb tart – shame it doesn’t include lemon otherwise it would have been perfect, but I’m sure you can come up with another contender!
I had a while rhubarb tasting menu with everything from soup to vinaigrette and, of course, dessert with a spike of rhubarb running through it. I was already inspired to experiment, but this competition is the perfect reason not to rest on my laurels.
I love the sound of a rhubarb tasting menu – you lucky thing! I hope you do experiment and fingers crossed you use lemon and spice as well so you can enter the challenge…
I have enjoyed entering your Recipes For Life challenge for the first time and imagine this will be a very popular month for you!
great recipes when I stumble on your blogs I always love all your recipes and i crave for it. I love all your recipes and it taste good, I always try it in my kitchen.