Time Out for a Recipe

Actually, more of an idea, but there is a recipe.  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writing in the Guardian had a fantastic idea, which he calls 'Fruit Fumble'.  The basic idea is that you cook separately the crispy topping you usually put on a fruit crisp or fruit crumble.  Then you assemble the actual dessert at the last minute - some kind of fruit, yogurt or cream or other creamy layer and then sprinkle some of the fumble over the whole.  We made a large amount of the crumble and stored it in an air-tight tin, so we can use it for several meals. It's a little like Granola, but buttery-er.

We've done this the last couple of days, first with strawberries and greek yogurt, then with rhubarb and greek yogurt with honey.  Yummy and fast.

I just made the crumble part. If you don't have a scale, either use your own Apple Crisp recipe or just estimate quantities - roughly 1 cup of flour/ 2 sticks of butter/ 1/2 cup oats/ 3/4 cup sugar. I also added a cup of walnuts.  This is not health food.



Strawberry Fumble

400g strawberries - hulled and cut into smallish-pieces
1 tbsp caster sugar
1        vanilla pod
200ml double cream
100ml plain yoghurt
2 tbsp icing sugar

For the 'independent' crumble
225g plain flour (or try ground almonds)
A pinch fine sea salt
200g chilled - unsalted butter, cut into cubes
150g granulated or demerara sugar
100g medium oatmeal


To make the crumble, which you can do well ahead of time, heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl. Rub together with your fingertips until you have a crumbly dough. Squeeze the mix in your hands to form clumps, then crumble these on to a large baking tray that has an edge. Evenly spread out the lumpy crumble and bake for 25 minutes, giving it a good stir halfway through, until golden brown and crisp. Leave to cool, then transfer to an airtight container. You'll have more than you need for this recipe, but it stores well for a couple of weeks and can be used to top all sorts of fruity and/or creamy puds.

Hull the strawberries, cut them into smallish pieces, sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to macerate for at least an hour.

Just before serving, split open the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into the cream. Stir in the yoghurt and sift in the icing sugar. Beat with a balloon whisk or electric whisk until the cream thickens and holds very soft peaks (don't overdo it, or it becomes too hard). Add the strawberries to the cream and stir gently so you have a swirly, marbled mixture. Transfer to four dishes, top each with a generous scattering of crumble, and serve.