Rhubarb and   strawberries  on the  farm stands   are  a  beautiful sight  of spring  through  summer.  I could  not  resist  picking  a batch of  each.   Life  is  delicious,  and  these  are a  few  things  that   remind  us that  some things in life are  more  delicious  than  others. It  goes  without  saying   that  Strawberry  Rhubarb   Crumble is  one  of  them 🙂 .

Spring  and   summer are  meant  for  outdoors.  It  also means  casual , easy  dining.  I tend  to cook less, or  cook  outdoors.  In fall I look forward  to  the  cooler  weather   and will happily heat  up the  oven  many more  times.   So chances are   these same  ingredients  will be happily   piled  inside a  pie,  today these  are   thrown  together into the pie’s  rustic  cousin – crumble.

Rhubarb is  said  to have  originated  from  western China  and  nearby regions.  Often  cooks  refer   to it as a  fruit, but  is  the  stalks  of  the leaves  that  are  used in cooking – so technically it is a vegetable.  The  leaves  of   rhubarb  are  toxic   and not  to be  used in  cooking.  In other words  if you find  rhubarb with leaves, say grown in your  backyard or  fresh from the  farm stand, make  sure  to trim these  off before  cooking  the  stalks.

How  do I  describe  the  taste of  rhubarb –   it is  tart,   quite  tart   actually.   A  tart  vegetable  does  not  do it  justice, there is  so much more flavor  in it.     There  is  the  visual appeal  of  course – the  field  grown rhubarbs  are   usually  very pretty  bright  pink – almost  red  color . While  the  hot house  varieties  are  a little  paler  and  has   much less  flavor.  That  does not  capture  it  either –  care to help me describe it  better ?

How  do I   choose   rhubarb ? The  color  is  not  an  indication of  flavor , but  to be  honest  I do tend to  pick the  deeper  colored  stalks  when  I can. Buy them  fresh   in  spring to  early   summer  and  yes  you can chop and  freeze  them for  year  round  use. The  tender  stalks  have  much  more  flavor  than  the  mature  ones – so  look  for  smaller  leaves (if  present) or stalks  that  are  about 1  to  1 ½ inch wider – not   any large.

These  are   tart – so  when making  desserts  one  has  to add a  lot  of   sugar  to balance  the  acidity.  Fortunately   it  pairs  well  with another  spring , summer  favorite – strawberry.  The  colors  match, the  flavors  complement  each other  and   both are  absolutely delicious .   And  that is  what  we  have  today  – strawberry  rhubarb crumble.

There are  just a  few  easy steps  to make a  crumble

• Chop and  pile  on the  fruits  in a  baking  dish.
• Add sugar/spices/thickener as  needed .
• Top  with a  rustic  topping.
• Bake  till the  fruits  are  bubbly and  the  top is browned !

The  topping  I used  here is  made  with  plain flour (AP / Maida), unbleached  of  course.  But  you can  easily make  it  with  50 % WW  flour or  a  mix  of   flours.

If  you are gluten intolerant , make  the  topping  with nuts/oats/ or  your  favorite  gluten free baking  mix.  If  you are  vegan replace  the butter in the  topping  with  coconut oil or  other  vegetable  shortening  you like .  Now  if  you are  allergic  to  fruits , I am  afraid  I can’t  help  you.  Oh wait ,  rhubarb is a  vegetable , so just  chuck the  strawberry in the  recipe. If you are  allergic  to vegetables – well ignore  the  rhubarb ..

See  there is something  for  everyone  here.

Kidding  aside   if you follow  the  recipe  to a T (or e)  you will  get a  dessert  with  beautiful red  filling and  a  crisp cookie like topping.  What is  more, the  recipe  does  not  require any planning  ahead of   time !

This is an  easy  recipe,   easy as a crumble.  Try it  and  you will see it too .

Here is  the  recipe  for  Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

5 from 1 vote

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Resting Time

10 mins

 

Sweet and  tart   filling and  a crispy almost  cookie  like   topping, this  dessert is  easy to make  and  bubbling with  flavors. 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6

Author: Syama

Ingredients

• 3 C  Rhubarb  Chopped
• 3 C  Strawberries  Chopped
• 2 Tbsp  Corn Starch
• ¾ C  Sugar   More if  the filling is too tart
• 1 Pinch  Salt

For  Crumb Topping

• 1 ½ C  AP Flour
• 1 Tsp  Baking powder
• 1/8 Tsp  Salt
• 1/4 C Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• ½ C Butter  (1 Stick )

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the  oven to  375°F (190°C).

2. Wash and  dry the  strawberries  and  rhubarb.   Peel off the  outer  skin off the  rhubarb stalks (I often  leave  some  on ) and  Chop into  ½ inch tick  pieces.  Cut   the strawberries  into   pieces  of   the  same  size.

3. Mix  cornstarch , salt  and   sugar.  Place  the  rhubarb and  strawberries  in  the baking  dish.  Sprinkle  the  cornstarch mix  over  the  fruits  and  toss  to  coat.

4. Place  1 and  ½ C flour  in a blender  bowl ,  add   sugar, baking  soda and  salt  to it . Pulse  it  once  to  combine.   Add  vanilla  and  the  softened  butter  to it  and  pulse a  few  times  until the  mix  begins  to come  together.

5. Tip the  bowl over  the  fruits  and   roughly spread the  topping   all over  the  fruits.

6. Transfer  to the  preheated  oven and  bake  for   around  40 minutes  or until the   fruits  turn  bubbly and  the  crumb  topping  begins to brown.

7. Remove   from the  oven and  cool on the   counter  for 10 to  15  minutes.

   Serve warm   with vanilla  ice  cream / whipped  cream . 

Recipe Notes

• US cup measurements  used.  1 C  = 240 ml

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