Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

Last year during Halloween we posted a quite unusual crumble version, namely the Pumpkin Poppy Crumble. We promised to come back with even more crumble recipes and, finally, here we are. There is nothing more seasonal now in late spring than delicious sweet strawberries and a pretty sour pink rhubarb. Add some elderflower scent and crunchy oats to it and I am in heaven.

Funny fact you may not know: Stefan used to hate rhubarb. In the kindergarten they served an incredibly sour, characterless, stringily rhubarb compote: a nightmare for every children. Even if he wasn’t picky at all, it was such a terrible experience that he refused to eat it even as an adult. Thankfully, Jamie Oliver is a rhubarb fan and Stefan is a Jamie Oliver fan, and I could convince him to try some rhubarb recipes with me. The first one was a pork belly roast with rhubarb which turned out delicious and then we tried our own compote. With enough sugar and/or sweetener, vanilla and good quality rhubarb it was a game changer for him. And now every saturday in spring we hunt for rhubarb at the farmer’s market ;-).

The crumble recipe here is based exactly on the same principles I’ve already described in the Pumpkin Poppy Crumble. Nothing fancy for the crumbles: just butter, flour, oats and sugar. The compote is made with rhubarb, strawberries and elderflowers, gently cooked in some water and thickend with flour. I strongly recommend to sweet the compote enough: add honey, sugar and/or sweetener otherwise it turns really astringent.

Enough said, let’s start backing.

INGREDIENTS

• 70g Butter, cold, in chunks
• 70g Plain Flour
• 70g Oats
• 50g Sugar (20g for the compoze/30g for the crumbles)
• 300g Strawberries
• 500g Rhubarb
• Sweetener to taste
• Some Flour or Starch for the Compote
• 2x Pinches of Salt
• Elderflowers

INSTRUCTIONS

Compote

1. I strongly advice you to prepare the rhubarb and strawberries compote in advance and let it cool properly before adding the crumbles.
2. Cut the strawberries and the rhubarb in chunks, bring approx. 100ml water to boil in a pot and add 20gr of sugar, a pinch of salt, the elderflowers and the fruits to it. Cook until it is as soft as you like it. Eventually thicken with some starch or flour. Sweeten to taste.
3. Let the compote cool and then spread it on a tray. We used a 20 cm square pyrex tray.

Crumble

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. Mix the butter, flour, a pinch of salt and oats quickly util you have nice crumbles.
3. Add the sugar and mix it with the crumbles. This helps caramelizing the top.
4. Sprinkle over the cooled compote and press the crumbles very gently into the compote to avoid burning them to quickly.
5. Put the crumble into the oven and turn on the grill.
6. Watch your crumble like an eyehawk and when the crumbles are golden remove from the oven.
7. Let it cool even if it is difficult to resist: your tongue will thank you.
8. Serve it plain, with custard or ice cream. Enjoy life.

MACROS

Makes 6 portions, each having the following macros:

• 231 kcal
• 3,5g Protein
• 28g Carbs
• 11g Fat

The macros to reward ratio of this dessert is simply amazing. It is a real comfort food which can fit also a small calorie budget making everyone happy. It has also the potential for a lot of variations: replace elderflowers for ginger or rose. Make it reacher with some white chocolate. Play around with different flours or nuts. And do not forget to tell us how your experiments turned out in the comment section below! Stay strong and eat well!

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