Cook: Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble

Hey everyone! So I don’t know about you but all this ottoman building malarkey has made me a little peckish. The ottoman is almost done, and we’re wicked excited to share it with you when it’s complete, for anyone not up to speed just scroll down a bit to see what I’m on about and where we’ve got to so far (or click here I guess, see how helpful I am :P). But as I said, this ottoman building has certainly been hungry work, so I thought it was about time I got back into the kitchen to cook something delicious to look forward to at the end of a hard day’s furniture building.

Quick, simple and tasty was the order of the day as I was definitely in the mood to sit in a heap when I was done, not slave over a hot stove, so you’ll be pleased to hear this recipe definitely fits into the so easy you’ll wonder why you don’t make it more often category. As Sam had very cleverly picked up some reduced price rhubarb at the store a couple of days earlier there was only one thing for it, rhubarb crumble!

There’s something special about old fashioned desserts, like those you used to get with your school dinner, and for me rhubarb crumble definitely fits the bill, although I’m hoping you will agree my effort is a little bit better executed than the school dinner variety! (No lumpy custard in sight) I haven’t kept things entirely traditional , either with the filling or the crumble topping, but I think that my little tweaks change it from being something ordinary and delicious into something a little special.

As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I’m a bit of a ginger fanatic and think rhubarb makes pretty good friends with the stuff, so I managed to sneak some crystallised root ginger into the rhubarb, but half a teaspoon of powdered ginger would work just as well. Feel free to leave it out if ginger is not up your street and your crumble will still be mighty tasty I promise.

I also added some crushed pecans to the crumble topping. This adds some extra crunch and a delicious sweet nutty flavour. Again, still totally tasty without them, but I think adding nuts into the crumble topping makes it a little more special (crushed hazelnuts work really well too!).

So on with the recipe…

Rhubarb and ginger Crumble

Ingredients:

For the rhubarb filling:

5 chunky rhubarb stems

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon diced crystallised ginger or 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (optional)

For the crumble topping:

2/3 cup fridge cold butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 cups plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 cup pecans (optional)

1) Chop – First things first wash the rhubarb and chop into 4-5 in lengths and place into your favourite oven safe crumble dish.

2) Sweeten things – Stir in the 1/2 cup of sugar and make sure all the rhubarb is coated nicely before placing in the oven at 200 C (290 F) for 20 minutes or until the rhubarb has softened.

3) Ginger-ize – Dice the crystallized root ginger and stir into the softened rhubarb mix to ensure it is evenly dispersed (we don’t want anyone getting an alarming mouthful now do we :P).

4) Topping Prep – Grab the bowl of your stand mixer and whizz together the butter, sugar and flour for your crumble topping on a medium speed until it forms into small breadcrumb-like-ness. If you are feeling super organised you could do this bit whilst the rhubarb is in the oven.

5) Pecans – Crush your pecans into small chunks and stir into the crumble topping. You’ll want to make sure you don’t leave too many big chunks as these have a tendency of burning in the oven if you leave them big.

6) Bake- Spread your crumble topping evenly over the rhubarb and ginger filling making sure there are no large pecan pieces peeking out the top then place back in the oven, still at 200 C (290 F) for 30 minutes, or until the crumble is a light golden brown colour.

As ever I’ve popped the recipe into a printer friendly format here if that help’s you to get into the kitchen 😀

Now it’s definitely time to put your feet up, maybe catch a bit of the Olympics action and enjoy a well earned bowl of rhubarb and ginger crumble with cream, custard or ice cream, I’ll leave that bit up to you. Enjoy!