Oaty Cherry Crumble

Friends coming for lunch has forced me out of my cold hibernation in front of the fire, and back into the kitchen.

Luckily a thaw has arrived here, so the extreme temperatures (for us) have abated a little and we are no longer seeing –18C (about 0F), or anywhere near that cold.

All that being said, I still thought I ought to make a hot dessert to accompany my fairly traditional British main course of Cottage Pie

In the depths of my freezer I still have several bags of cherries from the summer, so I quickly decided on one of my favourite dishes Cherry Crumble.  But, as ever, I decided to look for a new twist.  My usual crumble Cherry Crumble was posted on here back in 2010.

At times like these, I tend to turn to the Internet for inspiration.  I don’t usually cook anything I find but pick off pieces and ideas from several sources  before combining them in my own version.  It usually works, although I’m sure you all realise that this is by no means a guaranteed route to success!!

On this occasion. after rejecting all the usual cherry tart recipes, one of which advocated taking a ready made pastry tart base and adding a can of Cherry tart mix!!!!  which, whilst I agree is simple, in my mind hardly represents the best of home baking and, to be honest, if you are going to do that why not just buy a delicious ready made cherry tart? 

Anyway, I digress.  I eventually came across a recipe for adding oats to the crumble.   I didn’t much like the recipe itself, but the idea of adding oats appealed, and so, my Oaty Cherry Crumble was born.

I took this photo before  cooking it, but when it came out of the oven, it went straight to table and, well, to be honest, there wasn’t enough left to photograph.  I suppose that is a compliment though.

A friend recently emailed me saying that she loved the way I often incorporate a bit of history in my pieces.  However, I don’t know very much about the origins of crumble.  But here goes.  It appears that what we call crumble is the same as crisp in the US.   I’m sad to admit, that from all my research I have to admit that it seems to have originated in the USA.   Many early settlers to the US came from England and other parts of Europe.  These settlers carried with them their favourite recipes, such as fruit pies.    Pies , in Europe, date back to Roman times when a mixture of  flour and olive oil was used to seal meats etc. and were very popular by the time the early settler to the US set sail.

These early settlers were, by necessity very resourceful and when they found that they didn’t really have the basic ingredients to make their pies, they compromised and came up with a simple mixture of flour, sugar and fat that they could easily combine into a coarse crumbly topping for fruits.    The topping goes crisp on baking, which is why in the USA it is know as Crisp.     Interestingly enough, many people suggest the crumble, now a traditional British dessert originates in the second World War.   I tend to disagree with this interpretation, merely suggesting that, in my opinion, the shortages caused by food rationing in Britain during the Second World War caused the same inventiveness in the Britsh that those early settlers had found.  And believe me, if I could have found a way to attribute it to Britain, I would have!    However, it is very likely that those early settlers were, in fact, British, trying to do what the British abroad continue doing to this day! 

Here is what you do…

Pick a bowl full of cherries, or, at this time of year, defrost them out of the freezer.

Remove stalks, wash and destone them

Enough cherries to half fill an ovenproof dish.

A few drops sweet white wine

A tablespoon of brown sugar.

Oaty Crumble Topping

150g  flour 
150g brown sugar 
150g butter 
75g rolled oats

Oven

180degrees C

15 + 20 minutes (pre-warmed oven)

This oaty crumble is a simple 1:1:1, flour, sugar, butter mix with 1/2 portion of oats added

and I find I like golden granulated sugar for this crumble....

I put the cherries in an oven proof dish.....oven to table dish...... and then sprinkle some sugar over them. The cherries will be wet from washing and destoning so I add only a few drops of sweet white wine.    Add a knob of butter and bake until the cherries are just cooked. (about 15 minutes).

To make the crumble topping I put everything in a blender and pulse for a few seconds until it appears, well,  “crumbly!”

Add the crumble mixture on top of the fruit...not underneath or it gets messy...on top of the cherries and return to the oven for a bit longer.... About 20 minutes

Cook for about a further 20-25 minutes until the crumble topping is golden brown.

Eat with lashings of a runny cream, or, even better, custard

Cherry Crumble

Oven	180° C
Preparation	15 minutes
Cooking time	15 + 20 minutes

 

I can't believe that another Sunday has arrived.

Recently, I've mentioned a few times that my orchard is laden with fruit this year and, at the moment, it's cherry time.

I have several cherry trees which produce fruit in a rather orderly succession.   I can't take any credit for this delightful fact though, as the trees were planted many years before I took over guardianship of this piece of land.

Today, for Sunday lunch I prepared a simple dinner of roast chicken with roast vegetables.  Potatoes, from the garden via the freezer, Fennel, picked this morning and an onion and carrots from the market.  I also made a traditional sage and onion stuffing.

For desert I decided that I had to use the delights of the orchard and eventually decided on Cherry Crumble.  As you can see, once it was made, it looked far too good to worry about taking photographs....

Here's what I did:

 

Cherry Crumble

 

 

A bowl full of freshly picked cherries
A few drops water
A knob of butter
A tablespoon of sugar

For The Crumble Topping

4oz butter
4oz demerara sugar
7oz Flour

It's simple 1:1:2 butter, sugar, flour crumble mix...... 
but I usually cut the flour back a bit and use demerara sugar....

Pre heat the oven to 180° C

Pick a bowl full of cherries.
Remove stalks and wash them
Destone the cherries and half fill an ovenproof dish

Once I have put the cherries in an oven proof dish.....oven to table dish...... I then sprinkle some sugar over them. The cherries will be wet from washing and destoning so I don’t add any further water.   Add a knob of butter and bake until the cherries are just cooked. (about 15 minutes)

Add the 1:1:2 crumble mixture on the top...not underneath or it gets messy...on top of the cherries and return to the oven for a bit longer.... About 20 minutes

When it's black, it's burnt..

Eat with lashings of a runny cream

Clafoutis

My orchard is bursting with cherries at the moment.   The other day, I picked about 8 kgs and now, the next tree is ready to harvest with similar numbers.  At this time of year, I'm looking for things to do with cherries but I often freeze a lot for later use

However, this year I have decided to try my hand at a fairly local dish, a cherry dessert, Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a delicious cherry batter pudding from Limousin, a region just to the north of Ian's French Kitchen… Imagine a pancake batter, laden with cherries, and you're getting close

So here is my recipe....

Preparation time  15 minutes
Cooking time – 40 minutes
Serves – about 6

Ingredients 4 cups ripe cherries (washed) 3 eggs  4 heaped tablespoons plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt 2 tablespoons sugar 300ml milk ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Cherry brandy 2 tablespoons melted butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then blend in the sugar.
Sift in the four and baking powder and add the salt.  Continue beating
Warm the milk and vanilla extract and slowly add it, whilst continuing to beat.
Add a small slug of cherry brandy and then whisk in the melted butter.
Cover the bottom of a well greased oven proof dish with a single layer of whole cherries
Gently pour the batter over them until the cherries are barely covered
Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.
The clafoutis should look like a delicious golden pancake with cherries Rest for about 10 minutes.  The clafoutis will sink a little, whilst resting

Tip:

Lots of recipes call for the cherries to be pitted.  If you do this it IS much easier to eat….  But ALL my French friends insist it should be made with unpitted cherries as otherwise the colour from the cherries stains the batter distracting from the look of the dessert.

The batter can easily be made in a food processor.  I start with the eggs, then, with the machine running slowly I add the sugar until it's smooth.  Next add the salt, vanilla extract and milk and allow to beat a little more.  Finally, sift in the flour and baking powder and beat for one minute.