Roasted Stone Fruit

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 vanilla bean
• 360 g porridge oats
• 2 kg plum, peaches, apricots, cherries)
• 6 oranges
• 200 g date
• 150 g fresh strawberries
• 80 g unsweetened desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp natural yogurt per serving

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Halve the oranges and squeeze the juice into a large roasting tin — you want a good shallow pool, not a puddle.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar. Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife, and drop both seeds and pod into the tin so the whole thing perfumes the syrup.
3. Grate the strawberries straight in on the coarse side of a box grater — they'll melt into the juice and thicken it. Stir, then slide the tin into the oven for about 5 minutes to warm through and let the balsamic mellow.
4. For the crumble, tip the pitted dates into a food processor with the oats, desiccated coconut, olive oil, 130 ml water and a generous pinch of salt — the salt is non-negotiable here, it stops the dates tasting flat and lifts the coconut. Blitz to a rough, clumpy crumble: you want pebbles and gravel, not sand.
5. Spread the crumble evenly across a roasting tray (around 30 x 40 cm) in a loose layer. Don't pack it down — air gaps are what crisp.
6. Rinse the stone fruit, then halve or quarter the larger pieces, flicking out the stones as you go. Cut faces up means caramelisation; cut faces down means stewing — keep them mostly cut-side up when you can.
7. Pull the warm orange and balsamic mixture from the oven and gently fold the stone fruit through, so every piece is glossed with syrup. Taste the syrup now — a tiny pinch of salt sharpens the fruit and pulls the balsamic into focus.
8. Return the fruit tin to the top shelf and slide the crumble tray onto the shelf below. Bake for 45 minutes, until the fruit is tender and bubbling in deep amber syrup and the crumble is golden brown and smells toasty.
9. Stir the crumble once or twice during baking with a fork to break up the clumps and encourage even colour — the bits on the edges always race ahead.
10. When the fruit comes out, taste a spoonful of the syrup. If it needs lifting, a small squeeze of lemon or an extra splash of balsamic will sharpen it — adjust now, not at the table.
11. Spoon the warm fruit and its syrup into bowls, scatter over a generous handful of the toasty date-and-coconut crumble, and finish each with a cold tablespoon of natural yoghurt so it pools and melts into the fruit.
12. Leftover crumble keeps in an airtight container for a few days; the fruit will sit happily in the fridge for up to five.