Belinda Jeffery is one of those cookbook writers that not only explains her recipe for you, but one who tells you about the ambience of the room, the village traditions and shares her baking wisdom very graciously. I started with her Rhubarb and strawberry crumble then made this creation below my own.
I hope you love it, we all thought this dish rocked the Father's Day table on Sunday. I have also put together for you our Christmas Baker's Pack including the Spectacular Diced Fruit, Sticky Quince Syrup and our very new Candied Mixed Citrus Peel...Perfect for making this recipe. Get in quick we only have 50 packs available at a super special price.
The Ultimate Rhubarb Fruit Crumble
Serves 10 generously
350g rhubarb, washed and cut into lengths (I was aiming for 3 cm)
4 apples, peeled, thinly sliced
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
150g spectacular diced dried fruit
50g candied peel
4 tbpns of sticky quince syrup
Icing sugar, for dusting
Vanilla bean ice cream or thick cream, to serve
Crumble:
180g plain flour
125g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
180g cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/2 cup rolled or quick oats
Method (you can watch me put this together here)
Preheat your oven to 200C.
In a large bowl coat the rhubarb and apple slices with most of the caster sugar. In a second smaller bowl coat the diced fruit and peel with the remaining castor sugar.
I layered the fruit into my oven dish but you could just scoop the fruit mixture in. Starting with apples I did a layer then rhubarb pieces lined up alongside each other, then sprinkled the dived fruit/candied peel mix. I repeated this process again ending with a final layer of apple slices on top. I then finished with drizzling the sticky quince syrup over the apple layer. I used a round ceramic dish with a diameter at the top of 24 cm and 8 cm high (tampering to a smaller round base). You are aiming for a wide diameter and high sides.
For the crumble, I hand mixed the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon, salt, oats and then scattered the cubed butter over the top. You can blend with your fingers; I just used a stick blender (careful to not lift up the blender why its still blitzing otherwise you will have crumble flying everywhere). You are looking for a crumble not a paste here.
Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the fruit mixture, then into the oven for 35-40 minutes (As Belinda says 'until it looks crisp and golden, and the juices from the fruit bubble up through it here and there').
I did leave the crumble cool slightly before we served for dessert on Father's day this year. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or cream.