A crumble is a typical Irish and Anglo-Saxon dessert that's very easy to make, and it basically consists of fresh fruit covered with a mixture of flour, sugar, and butter. As soon as we prepare it we bake it, and baking yields a tart with a crumbly, crunchy pastry and a soft, roasted, highly appetizing fruit base.
Keep in mind that when fruit is roasted it not only softens but also enhances its flavor. So crumbles are a delicious way to enjoy all kinds of fruit. From there, you can play with a thousand tricks to make the crumble different and each one more delicious: from flavoring the fruit (with spices and aromatics like cinnamon, vanilla, or mint...) to making fruit combinations.
For a good crumble, it's also highly recommended to use different ingredients for the topping: try mixing in nut flours or chopped nuts (almonds or macadamia nuts will surely pair perfectly with that pear or strawberry crumble you're going to prepare... Can you already imagine it?).
I also encourage you to vary the sugars you use in the preparation, from adding some quality brown sugars or panela, which can be very aromatic, to adding nutmeg or cinnamon into the topping itself.
The recipe we bring today is a strawberry and rhubarb crumble delicious, a great way to make the most of the low Fusiontec pot, a highly versatile iron piece... while we enjoy the delicious fruit that spring gives us. Dear strawberries, roasted you are delicious.
Ingredients
- 500 g of rhubarb
- 500 g of fresh strawberries
- 1 vanilla pod
- 250 g of gelling sugar
- 300 g of flour
- 100 g of sliced almonds
- 100 g of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200 g of cold butter in cubes
- 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
- 400 ml of cooking cream
Preparation
- Wash, dry, and cut the rhubarb into 2 cm pieces and the strawberries in halves or quarters, depending on their size.
- Mix everything together with the vanilla pod and the gelling sugar. Let it rest for 1 hour.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt. Incorporate the butter and the lemon zest.
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C with top and bottom heat.
- Spread the fruit mixture in the low cast-iron Fusiontec pot and distribute the crumble (the mixture you prepared) on top.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25–30 minutes, until you see it has browned. The Fusiontec iron pot heats up quickly and distributes heat very well; the food will warm evenly and the crumble will bake wonderfully.
- When you see it's done, let it cool a little.
- Whip the cream with the help of electric beaters, and serve with the crumble and the strawberries.
