Friday, June 24, 2011

Raspberry- Rhubarb Crisp

When life hands you rhubarb, it is almost essential that you make a rhubarb crisp. But when life hands you raspberries and rhubarb, consider yourself blessed.

This is my version of a crisp- both lip-smackingly tart and scrumptious with a sweet little edge. Many recipes have mostly flour with a little oats in the topping but I like the crunch of the oats, so I usually have far more oats than flour when I throw everything in and make a topping. I really never follow a recipe for this sort of thing, but if you haven't made one before, this is kinda how it should look.

I feel sad that this delicious crisp is relegated to dessert time. Why, oh, why? It has all the markings of a delicious breakfast- oats, fruit and a side of greek yogurt. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Join me as I embark on a revolution to make this standard breakfast fare!

Raspberry- Rhubarb Crisp
Serves 4
As it is on the tart side, feel free to add more sugar to the mix if you so desire. Serve with a side of yogurt, ice cream or whipped cream if you like to up the ante. Of course this could be made with strawberries instead of raspberries. If you have frozen berries or rhubarb to use up, slightly increase the sugar and cornstarch as the fruit will release more liquid when cooking and will need a boost to thicken up nicely.

3 cups chopped rhubarb
3 cups raspberries
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup quick or regular oats
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (or more if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-10" quiche or pie plate.
2. Combine rhubarb, raspberries, sugar and cornstarch until fruit is coated in sugar and cornstarch mixture. Mound into pie plate.
3. Stir together flour, brown sugar, oats and butter with fork until combined. Use hands if needed. Sprinkle over top of fruit mixture.
4. Bake for 35 minutes, or until fruit is tender. If topping is browning too quickly, place a piece of tin foil loosely over top of the crisp until it is done baking.