Poached Rhubarb with Blood Orange and White Chocolate Recipe

There are a good few elements to this dish, the majority of which need chilling in the fridge or cooling before plating, so it’s best to make what you can a day or two in advance and read the recipe through before beginning. If desired, you could prepare everything except the biscuits the day before serving, which makes serving much easier

Start by making the candied orange. Boil the blood orange slices for 2 minutes, then refresh in iced water. Add 180g of the caster sugar, water and drained orange slices to a pan and cook slowly over a low heat for 45 minutes, until the peel turns translucent. Drain and leave the slices to dry on a wire rack for 2 hours

Meanwhile, make the crème fraiche. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes until soft. Place a small saucepan over a low heat and gently warm the milk with the scraped vanilla seeds and pod, along with the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat and squeeze the softened gelatine to drain. Whisk the gelatine into the milk until dissolved, then pour the mixture into a bowl set over iced water to cool. Stir in the crème fraiche and, when the mixture has completely cooled, discard the pod and divide it between 4 bowls or serving glasses. Place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to set, but ideally a few hours or longer

For the purée, chop the rhubarb and combine in a bowl with the sugar. Set aside to macerate for 5 minutes

Tip the sugared rhubarb into a saucepan over a low heat, then turn up the heat and stir continuously until the rhubarb has broken down and a thick pulp has formed. Blitz in a food processor until smooth, then quickly cool in a bowl set over iced water. Transfer to a squeezy bottle and keep in the fridge until needed

For the rhubarb batons, preheat an oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3. Cut the stalks into 6cm batons and place in a small ovenproof dish with the sugar and a little blood orange zest, stirring well. Cover with foil and bake in the oven until tender (roughly 10-20 minutes, although keep checking regularly after 10 minutes), then allow to cool. Once cool, place in the fridge until ready to serve

Once the candied orange slices have been drying for 2 hours, chop each disc into 10 pieces and toss in the remaining sugar. Cover and set aside until needed

To make the blood orange jelly, soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, place a small saucepan over a low heat and gently warm the blood orange juice with the sugar until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, squeeze the gelatine leaf to drain, then whisk it into the juice until dissolved. Pour the juice into a bowl set over ice and leave to cool. Once cool, pour a thin layer over the set crème fraiche in your serving bowls or glasses and return to the fridge to set completely (at least 10 minutes, but ideally an hour or longer)

To make the biscuits, gently melt the butter over a low heat, then pour into a mixing bowl with the icing sugar, nibbed almonds, flour, orange zest and juice, mixing until smooth. Place in the fridge and allow to set. Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4

Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the set mixture out onto it, then bake for 12-16 minutes until golden (the mixture is similar to a brandy snap, so will melt and level out naturally whilst baking)

Once golden, allow to cool for a few minutes until warm, the carefully cut the biscuits into rectangles measuring roughly 3x9cm. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely and firm up

Meanwhile, gently melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, then transfer to a piping bag and carefully pipe the chocolate on top of the biscuits in a crisscross pattern. Transfer to an airtight container until ready to serve

Peel and segment the two blood oranges, ensuring there is no white pith – you want roughly 20 segments in total

To serve, remove the serving bowls or glasses from the fridge and top with batons of poached rhubarb and the blood orange segments. Spoon over some of the rhubarb poaching liquor, then add a few drops of the lemon oil to each dish (no more than half a teaspoon per portion). Place dots of the rhubarb purée on top of the biscuits, then add pieces of candied orange and the crystallised thyme on top and in between