When it comes to the crunch, nothing gives more comfort nor more satisfaction than eating a crumble made from fresh local fruit. Whether that's with gooseberries from the garden, or the newly harvested apples that are in the shops now, the humble crumble offers delicious rewards for a tiny fraction of one's time. I cooked this gooseberry crumble with our sharply sweet home grown pink gooseberries, but the recipe would work as well with tangy apples this autumn, you'll just need to stew the apples in a little water or apple juice before adding the crumble topping. You can add oats or nuts to the topping if you like, but I prefer to keep it simple.
Recipe
Adapted from Nigel Slater's one in Real Cooking, buy the book from Amazon here.
Serves 6-8
75g caster sugar (or more or less to taste, depending on the sharpness of the fruit)
approx. 800-900g gooseberries
170g plain flour
170g unsalted butter, cold and chopped into small pieces
170g light muscovado sugar
1. Place the berries in an oven proof dish and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Leave for half an hour.
2. Turn the oven to 200C (180C fan).
3. To make the crumble topping, rub together the flour and cold butter using your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Gently stir in the muscovado sugar.
5. Spoon the crumble topping over the fruit, and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown on top, the beautiful juice oozing out of the sides of the topping.
6. Serve warm, with cream.
This crumble was idly baked while listening to Bach's Cello Suites
