Enjoy this rustic, family-style dessert.
Feel free to experiment with the amount of sugar in this based on how sweet your berries are. Try it with ½ cup sugar tossed with the fruit, and make note – you might want it more/less sweet the next time around.
CRUMBLE TOPPING
Ingredients:
- butter for greasing skillet/pan (about 1 tablespoon)
- ¾ cup spelt flour
- 2/3 cup 85 pine nuts, lightly toasted
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup natural cane sugar
- ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
FILLING
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup natural cane sugar (or Muscovado sugar)
- ½ lb. hulled medium strawberries, cut into quarters
- 12 ounces trimmed rhubarb, sliced into ¾-inch pieces
- · 1 /4 cup port wine (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375F, with a rack in the middle.
- Butter a 10-inch round gratin dish (pictured) , or a 9×9 square baking dish.
- Combine the flour, pine nuts, oats, sugar, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Use a fork to stir in the butter, squeeze into a few patties, then place in the freezer to chill at least 10 minutes.
- Make the filling by whisking together the cornstarch and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the strawberries and rhubarb, and toss until evenly coated. Wait three minutes, add the port and toss again. Transfer the filling to the prepared pan, remove the topping from the freezer, and crumble across the top of the filling – make sure you have big pieces and small.
- Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the topping is deeply golden and the fruit juices are vigorously bubbling. You’ll want to let things cool a bit before serving, 20 – 30 minutes.
By Heidi Swanson, 101 cookbooks