rhubarb crumble
Whenever I am searching for classic British recipes, I immediately head to Jamie Oliver’s website. Jamie Olivier is a British chef and restaurateur. I have a couple of his cookbooks and I love his simple approach to cooking. Crumbles (similar to American ‘crisps’) are popular in the UK and I often remember eating rhubarb and strawberry crumbles in the summer. In England, a crumble is often served with custard but I prefer vanilla ice cream. I modified the original recipe and threw in about 1 cup of strawberries to make a strawberry rhubarb crumble. Feel free to experiment with different fruit.
Ingredients - Filling
400g rhubarb
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75g light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour
Ingredients - Crumble
100g cold, unsalted butter
150g plain flour
50g light brown sugar
Creating the Magic!
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Grease an ovenproof dish with a little butter.
Chop the rhubarb into 3cm pieces, halving any thicker pieces lengthways. Toss with the rhubarb, sugar, vanilla extract and cornflour. Add the rhubarb to the prepared dish.
To make the crumble, cube the butter, then toss with the flour. Cut into the flour with a cutlery knife until the butter is in small pieces. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs with a few larger pieces of butter. Stir in the sugar and 1 pinch of sea salt.
Tip the crumble mixture over the rhubarb without pressing down. Place on a baking tray to catch any drips, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Serve with hot vanilla custard or cold cream.
For more information on the complete recipe, check out Jamie Oliver’s website.