Rhubarb Crumble with Cream

• 1 tbspcornflour
• 1 tspground ginger
• 100 gcaster sugar
• 700 grhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3 cm pieces
• 2 gfinely grated orange zest
• 1 tbsporange juice
• 150 gplain flour
• 75 grolled oats (medium flake)
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• 100 gsoft brown sugar
• ¼ tspsalt
• 130 gunsalted butter: 125 g cold and diced, plus 5 g for greasing
• 300 mldouble cream, cold, for pouring

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 190°C fan and use the 5 g butter to grease a 2-litre ovenproof dish; the butter helps the edges caramelise rather than stick.
2. 2Tip the rhubarb into a large bowl with the caster sugar, orange zest, orange juice, ground ginger and cornflour. Toss until every piece is glossy and evenly coated; the cornflour is what turns the juices into syrup rather than a watery puddle. Spoon into the prepared dish and level the top.
3. 3Rub the 125 g cold diced butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with a few larger buttery nuggets still visible. Keep the butter cold; warm butter blends into the flour and you lose the crunch.
4. 4Stir through the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and the ¼ tsp salt, pressing some of the mix together briefly between your palms so you keep a few thick clusters.
5. 5Scatter the crumble over the rhubarb in an even blanket, leaving the surface craggy rather than smoothed flat. The peaks are where the deepest colour develops.
6. 6Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is deeply golden and crisp and the rhubarb juices are bubbling up around the edges in thick, syrupy pools; a knife tip should slide easily into the fruit with no resistance. If the top is colouring faster than the fruit is softening, drop the oven by 10°C and keep going.
7. 7Let the crumble settle for 5 minutes so the juices thicken slightly.
8. 8Spoon the crumble into bowls, pour the cold double cream generously over the top, and let it melt into the hot ruby fruit before the first mouthful.

Per serving

kcal

670

protein

6.4g

fibre

2.2g

carbs

64.6g

fat

42.7g