Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

After using rhubarb for the first time in a cheesecake the other day I had some left over and thought I would experiment with it in a crumble. The dessert is a little bit out of season as I usually save this kind of homely pudding for the cold winter months.

I used a recipe by Gordon Ramsey from BBC Good food but modified it to use some things leftover in my store cupboard.

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients

• 8 stalks rhubarb

• 3 Braeburn apples

• 150g unsalted butter

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp clear honey

• 2cm piece root ginger

• 1 Orange, juice and zest

• 150g flour

• 2 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar

Method

For the fruit filling, pull any tough strands of skin off the rhubarb - don't peel it completely or you won't have any colour left. Cut the stalks into fairly chunky pieces so they keep their shape and don't end up as a purée when you cook them. Peel and core the apples and cut them into similar sized chunks; we use equal quantities of each to balance the flavour.

Melt a knob of butter in a pan and sauté the fruit to drive off any extra water. If you don't do this now it will release a flood of liquid into the crumble and make it soggy.

Add the cinnamon, orange juice and zest and honey, grate in the ginger and keep cooking until all the liquid has evaporated. Cooking the fruit right through at this stage means all you have to cook at the end are the crumble toppings, which is great if you are serving them at a dinner party, as you can finish them off in the oven during the main course.

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

Tip the flour into a bowl and roughly chop in the remaining butter. Rub everything together gently to make it into crumbs and then stir through the sugar.

Pop the fruit into a roasting dish and sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top. Top with a sprinkle of brown sugar. Don't pack it down, just let it take shape naturally.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until nicely browned on top. I served mine with custard, but cream or crème fraiche would work well in the warmer months too.