As much as I love experimenting with recipes and flavours from different cultures, sometimes the British Classics are just simply the best. Almost any fruit can be made into a crumble, which makes it a perfect dish as well for using up seasonal fruit. A crumble can be pepped up in any number of ways, through the addition of spices to the fruit, or nuts to the crumble mixture, a teaspoon of ginger in a rhubarb crumble totally transforms it trust me.
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| Plum and Almond Crumble |
Today, I had a punnet of plums that I had forgotten I bought, and they needed to be used up. I had also discovered when tidying my store cupboards that I had eight, yes eight, packs of ground almonds hanging around (for some reason, almonds and lasagne sheets I seem to always forget I have and buy them again and again unnecessarily).
Ingredients
For the stewed plums;
350 grams plums, stones removed and quartered
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
For the almond crumble;
125 grams plain flour
75 grams butter
80 grams sugar
30 grams ground almonds
For the topping;
Flaked almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
Method
Put the plums, sugar, water and mixed spice in a saucepan, and place over a low heat. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, and the plums are starting to stew, but are still holding some of their shape.
Remove from the heat, and divide into four ramekins.
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and butter, and rub together to form a fine breadcrumb like texture. Add the sugar and ground almonds, and mix well.
Spoon the crumble mixture over the plums, and press down with the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle the flaked almonds and sugar over the top.
Bake for 20 minutes, and then serve with double cream, ice cream or custard.
I am entering this post into this month's Credit Crunch Munch, hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours, and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All, as it a great recipe for using up fruit, and is made from simple store cupboard ingredients. Helen has made a special request this month for substitutions, and this recipe is wide open for them, you can substitute the fruit, the spices, and the almonds for any combination that takes your fancy! I'd love to hear any ideas below that you might have...
