foragers crumble

… frustratingly we’re paying ever-increasingly short visits to the cottage this summer.  Work, which has been epic (I am NOT complaining) has become even more intense as the year flashes by and so any time that we would have had for the lighter stuff has dwindled.  We catch glimpses of it now and again and on the rare occasion I do get to spend time in the kitchen it has been more about feeding the soul than feeding this blog – if that makes any sense.  When we do get back to the cottage we both stumble around in some kind of fugue of sleep, like tired zombies with chores like; clean the living room, change the bed-sheets, dead-head the flowers.  The Viking moans about his lack of garden time whilst I sit at the kitchen table and stare at my closed laptop thinking about writing something… anything.  Still, there will be no grumblings from me.  We had it bad not that long ago and I never want to go back to that.  Plus, we have each other and for that i’m forever grateful.  Between sleep and work we keep each other company and these days we seem to laugh more than argue so there is a silver lining to everything.  This last weekend was rather lovely though.  We managed to get back home and the weather treated us well.  We managed a spectacular walk through Swaby Valley which is as close to bucolic paradise as is possible.  The Viking had also discovered an apple tree hidden in a hedge that was laden with over-ripening fruit so he suggested we talk a walk, take some apples and find anything else we could to add to a foragers crumble.  The bounty was fine.  The incredible hot weather earlier in the season most have set something aflame as the bramble, or blackberry bushes, were swelling with sweet and juicy fruit. I also remembered a plum tree that overhangs the road en-route that delivered in bundles and we were lucky enough to have beaten the wasps to the hoard, which is rare these days.  It’s always so satisfying to bake with stuff you’ve found in the field and when it all tastes this good it makes you happy for those small moments…

foragers crumble

So we’ve got the apples.  I have no idea what variety they are but in their uncooked state they’re very tart but once cooked they stay firm but yield a soft sweet texture similar to a bramley.  We’ve also got blackberries.  We always called them brambles and I remember that mum had a thorny bush in her back garden growing over an old air-raid shelter that’s now sadly been pulled down.  I think she’s lost the bramble bush but I haven’t lost my memories of her incredible apple and bramble pie.  Such an incredible combination of fruits… tart and sweet and devilishly blood red… and of course we have plums.  They are Victoria Plums, the dark purple variety and my favourite.  They’re the type of plum that tastes of plum, if you get what I mean.  I’ve kept it all very simple with just a dash of cinnamon and vanilla bean paste but the crumble is really rather special with porridge oats, ground almonds and some little ameretti biscuits crumble in, that I found at the back of the cupboard.

I apologise for the lack of weights and measures for the filling but it really shouldn’t make a huge amount of difference what or how much goes in…

for the filling

• 5 medium apples – peeled, cored and rough chopped
• 7 small plums – stoned and halved
• 2 large handfulls of blackberries
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

for the crumble topping

• 150g plain flour
• 50g porridge oats
• 50g ground almonds
• 50g ameretti biscuits – roughly crumbled
• 200g butter
• 150g brown sugar

rinse all the fruit thoroughly in cold water and let the plums and berries sit in the water for 5 mins, then drain well and place all the fruit, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar into a large pan and gently heat for 15 minutes until the apples soften slightly – the berries will turn to mush but the apples and plums should still have their shape – pour into a large oven-proof dish and set aside

to make the crumble, place all the ingredients into a bowl and rub together with you fingers until you have a thick, crumbly consistency – then spoon the crumble onto the fruit and press down well

bake on 180C for 30 mins until the topping begins to turn golden brown and the juices of the fruit ooze through the sides

serve with cold cream or warm custard

eat and of course, enjoy!