Rhubarb ribbons

It's hard to believe that rhubarb could be so pretty. In fact, it's hard to believe that I agreed to make a rhubarb pudding in the first place considering my lifelong dislike of its sourness.

We had friends over for a leisurely lunch on Saturday and with Mr M's lamb shanks on the menu, we needed something equally as delicious for dessert. Being prepared as always, we decided on the pud late Friday night which meant an early start the next day to buy all the bits. The first supermarket had obviously made the decision not to stock seasonal food (naughty, naughty Mr Sainsburys) so I carried on up to Mr Waitrose - where they had piles of British rhubarb. Marvellous.

There was a bit of a rush on to get the pud ready. You see, there was a deadline. We would be eating pud at about 3:30, and it needed a minimum of 4 hours, but ideally 5, in the freezer, and softening fruit can't be rushed, and it was already 10:30. Gah. Anyhoo, the rhubarb (400g) and sugar (50g) behaved perfectly. The crumble was a little more time-consuming but that was soon sorted.

Mix one pot of mascarpone (250g) with one of Greek yoghurt (400g), stir through the cooled rhubarb, a splash of vanilla extract (and vanilla seeds if you're posh) and some of the crunchy crumble so that it swirls like raspberry ripple. Spoon into a loaf tin lined with cling film and pop in the freezer. Take the chilly bundle out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Turn out onto a beautiful serving plate, pile the remaining crumble on top and serve large slices with a big spoonful of rhubarb coulis.

Eat as quickly as you can so that you can get a second helping in before anyone else has finished their first.

I will most definitely be making this again - blackcurrant would be amazing, as would raspberry and perhaps gooseberry...

So, thank you Mr Waitrose for your British rhubarb and tasty recipe.