Did I tell you we switched allotment plots? It wasn’t planned but back in December we went over for a little tidy up and bumped into the membership secretary. We had a little chat about struggling with such a big plot and he offered to move us to one a bit more compact that had just come up.
After a look around it took about two seconds to decide. It had a brand new shed and a greenhouse. It was enormously overgrown but underneath it all there was plenty of growing space for our purposes. We moved in there and then!
Rhubarb has been a constant on each of our three plots. We bought one which we transplanted from the first to the second and now our third plot. The second plot had a massive clump already embedded which we ate well from. And this latest (and I hope last) plot has two massive clumps. I tidied the nettles up around them both yesterday and trimmed the outer stalks off to let some light down on the lower ones.
These stalks were just enough for a crumble. The weather has turned cold here this week so it really was a perfect afternoon for it. The girls were each snuggled under their own blankets so I thought individual portions would work well as we settled down to watch a movie. I used up a few old plums and a portion of berries in the freezer too. Mainly for colour as my rhubarb was not too bright in colour and I didn’t want green crumble!
Rhubarb, Plum and Berry Crumble You’ll need
- 3 fat stalks of rhubarb
- 3 deep overripe plums
- 2 cups mixed frozen berries
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 2 star anise
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar – more of you prefer a sweeter filling
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 150g unsalted butter
- 150g plain flour
- 100g soft dark brown sugar
- 150g jumbo porridge oats
- 2 balls stem ginger
- 2-3 tbsp stem ginger syrup
To make it
- Chop the rhubarb and plums into a pan – rough two centimetre chunks will do. Add the berries, cinnamon, star anise, granulated sugar and vanilla extract and pop onto a low heat and cover. You don’t need any water. The steam is enough to gently cook the fruit til just tender.
- Meanwhile put the butter into another pan and melt gently. Add the flour, oats and dark sugar and mix it all together til it’s all nicely combined.
- Turn the oven on to 180c/160c if it’s a fan oven
- Divide the fruit mixture into 6 portions (mine fit neatly into mini 16cm enamel dishes)
- Spoon over the crumble mixture and bake them for about 40 minutes. The top should be just golden. Leave in for 5 more minutes if you want a crunchier topping.
I had mine with creme fraiche but my family are custard fiends and had a pint each. My Instagram followers seem to agree with custard route.
What do you put on top of your crumble?