Sunday, June 12

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ever since I got home, I have had this incredible hankering for rhubarb.  It is kind of still in season - it's about $3/lb in the Bay Area right now.  I flipped through this dessert cookbook that my cousin helped out with.  It is called Rustic Fruit Desserts and the recipes are phenomenal.  I adopted their recipe, "Apple Crisp with Brandy-Soaked Currants" (which also looks REALLY good, but I sadly do not have the ingredients at home).

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts

Crisp Topping:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Fruit Filling:
1.5 lbs strawberries (this is about two containers strawberries)
1 lb rhubarb (about 4-5 stalks)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.  Make the crisp topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, salt, and cardamom in a bowl.  Add the butter and mix it around so it forms crumbly clumps.  Put the mixture in the freezer while you prepare the fruit.  Make the filling by washing the fruit, cutting it up, and thoroughly mixing the sugar and flour.  The poundage of the fruit does not really matter, but it should almost fill the baking pan before adding the topping.  Put the pan in the oven and cook for 50 minutes.  Serve with cream if you know what's good for you.



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Crisps are one of my favorite desserts to make during the school year because it is a great dish to make with some friends.  One person prepares the fruit, another the coating for the fruit, and one or two other people can make the crisp topping.  Usually I make some kind of apple crisp with an oat-based topping, but the strawberry rhubarb crisp turned out really well.  The intense red from the berries and the rhubarb rises and bubbles up to stain the crisp topping.  It is actually a kind of striking contrast between the little islands of browned sugar.


There is nothing quite like cooking to some really great jazz music.  And because I can't find any of my cousin Dave's music online (I'm going to try to change this soon), here is Benny Goodman doing a version of Jelly Roll Morton's "King Porter Stomp":


Schreiber, Cory, and Julie Richardson. "Apple Crisp with Brandy-Soaked Currants." Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed, 2009. 138. Print.

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