Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Not that I'm complaining (much), but it is after Easter and this is what our rhubarb looks like in the garden. (Um, if you want a notion of scale, notice the acorn cap at the top center of the picture.)
When I taught literature at Saint Edward's University in Austin, I always had to talk my students into agreeing with T. S. Eliot that April was "the cruelest month." April 15th and they were in shorts, T-shirts, half of them already sporting well-honed tans. "What does this old guy have against April?" they'd ask. If they were with me now in the Berkshires, they'd have no problem catching on.
Anyway, we wanted some taste of spring this weekend, some way to mitigate April's cruelty around here; so Bruce turned to THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK to make a strawberry rhubarb crisp.
If you know anything about me--and there's no reason you should--you know that I'm a fanatic for crisp (although lately I've sort of been pretty cake-obsessed, thanks to this.) Crisps are like pies but with oats and lots of crunchiness. What's not to like?
Here's how it went down:
It started with 3/4 pound rhubarb. (From Stop-N-Shop. Sigh.) First, Bruce peeled a few of the thicker stems to get rid of some of those pesky, stringy threads. To do so, get a paring knife under the little threads at one end, then zip them off, about like pulling the strings off a celery rib. You needn't go nuts--once or twice down the stalk should take care of the problem. And you needn't do this on thin rhubarb stalks, only the thicker ones.
He cut the rhubarb stalks into 1/2-inch sections, put them in a large bowl, and added 1 quart hulled and quartered strawberries, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
I'm a fan of quick-cooking tapioca in crisps, pies, cobblers, grunts, slumps, and pandowdies. It adds a little heft to the filling and keeps it clearer than, say, all flour without the gelatinous tooth cornstarch can offer. Together, flour and quick-cooking tapioca make a perfect fruit dessert: grandmotherly, rich, and delicious.
He poured the filling into an oval roasting pan, then made the topping--which was just all this stirred together in a big bowl: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup rolled oats (no quick-cooking or steel-cut oats), 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar, 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (pecans would work, too), 1/4 cup walnut oil (you could also use 4 tablespoons melted and cooled unsalted butter), 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. He simply spread it across the top of the fruit filling.
It went into a preheated 350F oven and baked for about 45 minutes, until the filling was bubbling up underneath the topping. Yes, it did overflow a bit. He should have put a piece of foil under it during the last 15 minutes or so. Sigh, again. It's another little job for when I next give the kitchen a thorough scrubbing.
crisp, dessert, fruit desserts, rhubarb, strawberry
Reader Comments (2)
I love crisps too, and I can't wait for good fresh rhubarb. My friend Kat has been promising me a strawberry rhubarb pie whenever some comes to the farmer's market. Here's to hoping your plants sprout up soon!
This is the main reason I wish I had a garden--so I could grow rhubarb. I wonder whether it would grow in the big tub on my balcony? I think fruit crisp of any kind may be my all-time favorite dessert, because it's easy for the cook (ie, me!) and delicious out of all proportion to the effort involved.