Grub and Grubs

Rhubarb Crumble

Not a cake but by far the best, simplest and most comforting dessert there is

  • 75g plain flour
  • 75g ground almonds
  • 125g cold butter
  • 75g sugar (try golden caster or half brown sugar)
  • 50g of seeds/chopped nuts/porridge oats (optional)
  • at least 750g of fresh rhubarb (or if you have some in the freezer, thaw it out overnight and drain most of the liquid)
  • another 50g of sugar for the fruit
  • 1tsp of cinnamon if you like
  1. Preheat the oven to 200c
  2. Cut the butter into small chunks
  3. If you have a food processor, add the butter, flour and ground almonds and blend until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs
  4. If you don’t have a food processor, put the butter, flour and ground almonds in a large bowl and rub between your fingers and thumbs* until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs
  5. Leave in the freezer for half an hour to chill
  6. Remove crumble mix from the freezer and add the sugar and seeds/chopped nuts and gently mix through
  7. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of cold water over the mix and gently stir with a fork until you get some small lumps mixed in with the fine crumbs
  8. Slice the rhubarb stalks into 2cm sections
  9. Lightly butter a baking dish and and add the rhubarb. Sprinkle the remaining sugar and cinnamon over the top
  10. Cover the rhubarb with the crumble mix, don’t flatten or squash it down as you wan it to be light and crumbly
  11. Sprinkle the porridge oats (if using) over the top and bake for 30 minutes, or until it has gone just passed golden and the juice from the fruit is bubbling up
  12. Serve with ice-cream, custard or fresh cream, or all three

Almost any fruit works in a crumble except for strawberries which come out out far too sweet. Tinned pears are great, apples should be cut into chunks and boiled in sugary water for 10 minutes to soften them a little first

If using pears, swap the cinnamon for cardamom or nutmeg. Apple and clove, apple with fennel seed, dates and ginger all work great too

*if you have warm hands, wearing a pair of rubber gloves slows down the butter melting