I pity the fool!

I remember pots of rhubarb stewing on the hob at home for my dad when I was growing up.  I even remember my dad growing some in our back garden (if you saw the size of our garden you would be impressed by this achievement) for a few years.  But I never actually tasted it back then.  My dad would have a bowl of it swimming in custard but something about it just never really appealed to.  I spotted some bunches of rhubarb on Sunday while I was buying some fruit and knowing that Mr Boo enjoys all things fruit related I picked up a bunch to try.

I started with a basic rhubarb fool recipe and then made a couple of additions and the result was pretty good if you ask me.  You didn't?  Well, I'm telling yiz anyway so whist.  The fool recipe I used required double cream to be whipped but both himself and myself were in agreement (for once) that this was a little too heavy so I am going to use single cream for the recipe below. 

Rhubarb Fool with Custard Crunch
(Serves 4)

5 or 6 Stalks of Rhubarb
300g Caster Sugar
500g Tub of Single Whipped Cream
150g Ginger Nut Biscuits
500g Tub of Custard

1.  Preheat the oven to 190°C/374°F/Gas 5.
2.  Roughly chop the rhubarb and put into an ovenproof dish.
3.  Scatter the sugar over the rhubarb and cover the dish with foil (you do not need to add any water to this mix).

4.  Place the rhubarb and sugar into the preheated oven for between 45-60 mins until the rhubarb is nice and soft.
5.  Once the rhubarb is cooked remove the dish from the oven and strain the resulting syrup from the dish into a jug.  Set the syrup aside to cool but do not refrigerate it as it may crystallise and loose it's colour.

6.  Puree the rhubarb until smooth and set aside to cool.

7.  Place the ginger nut biscuits into a zip lock bag and pound with a rolling pin to crush.

8.  Once the rhubarb and the syrup have cooled place the whipped cream into a bowl.
9.  Add the rhubarb and half of the syrup (retain the other half for serving if people require more) to the cream and gently fold through to give a raspberry ripple effect, don't combine completely.
10. In a sundae glass or similar serving dish place a good dollop of custard into the bottom.
11. Place a layer of the crushed ginger nut biscuits on top of the custard.
12. Place a layer of rhubarb fool on top of the biscuits followed by another layer of biscuits.
13. Continue this pattern until the glass is full.
14. Garnish with a small sprinkling of biscuits and a drizzle of the reserved syrup.

This would make an ideal summer dessert for dinner or even Sunday lunch.  The prep work can be done in advance and assembly prior to serving to save time.

If you yield a very large amount of syrup from this recipe you could try adding some to some Champagne or Prosecco for a nice summer cocktail.