For those few active readers who may have noticed that I’ve been a bit lazy about posting recently, my apologies. Summer does funny things to motivation. When the weather is warm, we fire up the grill and throw together a quick salad and so I figure there’s just so many times I can post pictures of grilled meat and a side salad. So my content might begin to shift a bit away from recipes and more towards other culinary delights that inspire me. But all in good time. For now, we get to focus on one of my favorite summer activities: baking! Fresh fruit just screams to be made into pies, crisps, crumbles and cakes. Top it with a little Ben and Jerry’s vanilla ice cream, and you’ve got the most delicious reward for playing outside in the sun all day. (Or all afternoon/evening if it’s a work day.)
Even though the weather feels like summer these days, the growing season is still in major spring-mode. That means lots of rhubarb at the farmer’s market!!! I LOVE rhubarb. My mom used to make it a lot when I was little and it was always a great bbq side. But these days I find I like it best in a dessert. There is something about the balance of tart and sweet flavors that just gets me every time. This recipe represents the best of all worlds, the fruit flavors stand out boldly, but there is the sweet, zesty crisp to the topping that adds a delightful texture. I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen (again), because she is pretty much the only person I trust to give me a baked goods recipe to rival my family’s traditional standbys. I did have to shift some of the proportions around because I had double the rhubarb and half of the strawberries she called for. Only because I was lucky enough to find a pint of organic strawberries from Adam’s Berry Farm and felt compelled to buy them in order to support this wonderful farm that has been mostly under water for a month. Plus, they are way sweeter and more delicious than the ones shipped from California. Solution to this un-dilemma: add more sugar and a TB of tapioca to ensure that the fruit part wouldn’t be too tart or too runny. I mean, it’s dessert. Who can say no to more sugar? Not me.
Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble – adapted from the Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
For the topping:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw)
Zest of one lemon
1/4 pound (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 pint strawberries, hulled, quartered
Juice of one lemon
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon tapioca
Pinch of salt
Yields 6 to 8 servings
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest and add the melted butter. Mix until small and large clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, tapioca and a pinch of salt in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. (I used a deep 9 inch square baking dish that recently made it’s way into my kitchen – thanks Brendan! It worked perfectly because the high sides prevented and bubbling over.)
3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. If you are using a more shallow dish, place pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet, place in the oven and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes. (In my oven it took 55 minutes to get golden brown on top.)
For Nana 