I must admit to being partial to a dessert, and they don't get much better than a good crumble.
It's one of my favourites, it brings back memories of long cosy winter evenings, and strangely, of warm summer ones as well.
Probably because its such a versatile dish, you can have the blackberry and apple, with the autumn flavours of added cinnamon, or the light summer fruits, or the sharp rhubarb that sticks to your teeth. In winter serve with home-made thick custard, while in summer ice cream or double cream or Devon Clotted Cream (or all three) make it special.
So far this year, the soft fruit has been a bit of a mixed bag. Despite looking after my strawberries much better than I did last year, the crop has been patchy, whereas the blackcurrants have excelled, and I've even had a few Redcurrants from my new bush (not expected till next year).
The rhubarb has done well but not enough for a stand alone dish, but between the pickings of berries to freeze for jam making later I have found enough for the balsamic glaze (last post) and now a few more to go with the rhubarb for a crumble.
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| Mixed Berries |
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| Rhubarb |
I mixed the berries and rhubarb together with 2 tablespoons of soft brown sugar and microwaved for 10 minutes, whilst that was going on I made the topping, and the custard. (without burning it for once)
I find that there's always too much liquid in the fruit mixture, so my tip is to use dried strawberries or other died soft fruit to soak up this juice, I had some mixed dried berries that I had brought from a farmers market, they worked a treat, that way you don't loose any of the goodness.
Anyway, top the cooked mixture with the …. topping, and bake at 160C until browned and you can see the fruit bubbling through the top.
I think you can guess what to do next.
Hi Richard and Mrs Richard, lovely blog. I've been eyeing up the brambles around the allotment, they are looking very promising. Last year no one else picked any and we had enough for several jars of bramble jelly and numerous crumbles.
ReplyDeletePippa x
I made crumble for the first time last week from the 110 g of red and blackcurrant I picked in our small garden... For the first time, because it's not a traditional meal here in the Czech Republic (we do make cakes with fruit and crumble, though) - but it was the only thing that made sense with that small amount of fruit.
ReplyDeleteI'm unhappy to comment mine almost got burnt. I forgot things get done quicker in out hot air oven... But it was still very tasty and I agree that it works well for summer AND winter.