Rhubarb crumble – scrumptious, simple to make and in-season now, treat yourself – it works strangely well with chocolate ice-cream.
This time last year almost exactly to the day I posted a Rhubarb Crumble recipe but when I went to make it myself last weekend I didn’t have exactly the same ingredients and decided to just work with what I had to produce an equally good variation of rhubarb crumble. The topping consists of butter worked into flour and porridge oats and then sweetened up with sugar. The type of flour and proportion of flour to porridge oats is entirely up to you. You can also healthy up your crumble with the addition of some crushed nuts or seeds.
I picked up the organically grown rhubarb at Schull Farmer’s Market last weekend but I know that locally grown rhubarb is readily available in most Irish supermarkets too at this time of year. Speaking of markets there is a massive farmer’s and country market taking place on Sunday 15th April as part of Waterford Festival of Food
In other food news I’ll be signing and doing a demo of some recipes from ‘Gimme the Recipe’ this Saturday 14th April in Moycullen, Galway – for more information see the gimmetherecipe facebook page
But for now I leave you with a ramekin of rhubarb crumble just begging for a dousing of custard or a blob of fresh cream.
Rhubarb Crumble
You will need:
100g unsalted butter
100g plain flour
100g porridge oats
200g brown sugar
5 large stalks of rhubarb
50g brown sugar (for cooking the fruit)
Method:
Preheat the fan oven to 170C /Gas Mark 5
Rinse and chop the rhubarb stalks into 1 cm width chunks and cook in a saucepan with a splash of water and the 50g brown sugar over a medium to high heat until softening (still bitey and not a pulp). Takes about 5 minutes.
Put the flour and oats in a mixing bowl and chop in the butter.
Use your finger tips to crumble the flour and butter together until it’s starting to resemble breadcrumbs.
Add the 200g brown sugar and mix well with a fork.
Place the softened rhubarb in a baking dish and scatter the crumble mixture on top, press it down lightly but don’t over compact it.
Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Enjoy.
Til next time, Sheila
Rhubarb Crumble 2
