Gooseberries, redcurrants and strawberries.
Sometimes a recipe is a tried and true family recipe. And sometimes it is caused by mere coincidence.
Like yesterday. After a summer where there has been no organic berries to be found, I came upon the first organic berries in my local store. The most exquisite and elusive of them all, gooseberries.
I wanted to make something easy and delicious, in between busy weekends spent bicycling and playing with my 3-year old son. It had to be crumble, but with a twist.
When it comes to garden berries, no one beats the British. After all, this is the kitchen of Eton Mess, Strawberries and cream, Gooseberry fool and Summer pudding.
Gooseberry crumble with ice cream.
The British and Scandinavian kitchen are quite similar in climate and share many of the same produce. The most notable exceptions are cloudberries and lingonberries.
On the web site ”Great British Chefs” I found a recipe for gooseberry crumble with a nutty topping. And because gooseberries are bland in colour when cooked, I added some redcurrants and a couple of strawberries.
I served it with ice cream. And licked the plate.
Visiting wasp.
Gooseberry crumble (makes 3)
300 g gooseberries
4–5 stalks of redcurrants
3 big strawberries
50 g sugar
Topping:
50 g sugar
50 g cold butter
50 g flour (gluten-free is fine)
40 g almond flour
30 g flaked almonds
20 g hazelnuts
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Wash and rinse the berries. Top and tail the gooseberries. Rinse the currants and strawberries. Mix in a bowl with the sugar and place in a tart tin.
3. Place sugar, flour and almond flour in a bowl. Cut the butter in cubes and rub into the flour with your hands until it looks like rough breadcrumbs. Add cinnamon, flaked almonds and roughly chopped hazelnuts. Cover the berries with the crumble, but not the edges.
4. Bake in the middle of the oven (with parchment paper underneath as the juice may run down the sides) for about 20 minutes until bubbly and golden. The juice should be quite thick and syrupy when finished.