Rhubarb crumble.

The rhubarb is loving all of this rain and so I am harvesting it a lot recently. Already I have made rhubarb gin, rhubarb brownies and a couple of days ago we made rhubarb crumble ( recipe on here).  This is the basic recipe I was taught by my domestic science teacher over 45 years ago.  After the recipe I will tell you some of the ways that we switch it up to taste different or to make it a bit more fancy.  Crumbles always seem to leak a bit around the edges but as children we used to fight for that chewy bit.  I will often make the crumble topping in advance and then freeze it in bags. I can just take it out first thing in the morning of a baking day and just pour it on to save me time when the oven is on.

Some people cook the rhubarb first and add more sugar.  We like ours a bit tart and I do not like the rhubarb to be mushy and so I make it this way.  If you are worried about the rhubarb not being sweet enough you can stew the rhubarb in a pan with sugar and a splash of water first, and then add more sugar or honey to taste before putting it in the bottom of the oven proof dish.

Ingredients

Just over a pound of rhubarb, chopped in inch pieces  (about 17 ounces). I added some apple as I did not quite have enough left).

60z of sugar

6oz flour

3 oz butter (or margarine).

Method

1.  Heat the oven to 180C
2. Put the chopped rhubarb into an oven proof dish (not metal).
3.  Add 3oz of the sugar and stir to mix.
4.  In a separate bowl put in the flour and the butter and rub together until it resembles bread crumbs.
5.  Add the rest of the sugar and stir to combine.
6.  Pour the mixture over the rhubarb and press down to cover the fruit in the dish.
7.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is slightly golden.

Ways to switch up your crumble

1.  Grate orange rind into the crumble mix
2.  Put some fresh, stem or crystalized ginger in with the rhubarb.
3.  Add walnuts to the crumble
4.  Add oats to the crumble and take out the same weight in flour,
5.  Add some port to the rhubarb when cooking it.
6.  Cook strawberries with the rhubarb
7.  Add vanilla extract to your crumble mix
8.  Add some ground ginger to your crumble mix.
9.  Use brown sugar in your crumble mix
10.  Add orange zest to the rhubarb filling.
11.  Add cinnamon to the crumble

We like to serve ours with custard or home made ice cream.  What do you add to your rhubarb crumble?