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Apple & Blackberry crumble with a lemon twist

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For me a fruit crumble is the absolute comforting dessert. If I feel a bit under the weather, stressed or just COLD ( it’s been so cold this month) I always seem to make a crumble. More often than not it will be just a plain old apple crumble but I’ve used raspberries, blueberries and peach in the last 12 months as well as my current favourite – apple & blackberry. I’ve been meaning to share the recipe for a little while but kept forgetting so I’m doing it now – finally after a tweeter asked me for it. Thanks for the nudge 😉

There are two ingredients that I feel make a crumble go from a nice dessert to something a bit special and different and they are ….drum roll …. Porridge oats and lemon! After seeing a tip from a celebrity chef ( can’t remember who – sorry ) a while back I have always used lemon zest and juice in my fruit filling. It doesn’t make it taste super lemony but it does add a certain zing. Also I should note that typically I use frozen blackberries unless we are lucky enough to get some whilst out strolling at the right time of year.

Anyway here is the recipe in its entirety:

1kg mix of chopped apples and blackberries – decide which you want most of 🙂
180g plain flour
160g caster sugar
120g cold butter, chopped
Zest of ½ lemon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp porridge oats
An extra knob of butter

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Rub your flour and butter together until it resembles breadcrumbs then add half of your sugar, mix thoroughly and set aside.

Place your apples, blackberries,lemon zest, juice, water and the remaining sugar in a saucepan and simmer for around 5-10 minutes just to soften. This will smell incredible and you will want a little taste.

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Pour into an ovenproof dish and top with your crumble mixture, then sprinkle on your oats. Just before placing in oven break your knob of butter into several chunks and place on top of crumble – this is a Rachel Allen tip and will make it even tastier.

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*If you prefer a chunkier crumble mix pinch some between your fingers to create lumps.

Bake for approx 30 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden brown.

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Enjoy with cream, ice cream or custard.

Meal planning week #1

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Last month I bought a week planner blackboards and I have started making good use out of it.

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This is the second week I have meal planned and it makes life a little easier and definitely means less waste! I am not regimented about it and if I feel like a change then of course I will change it but I like the structure and knowing what I’m cooking later that day.

In case you can’t read my chalk scrawl this is what this week looked like:

Sunday : Spaghetti and meatballs
Monday : Beef stew (slowcooker style)
Tuesday : Griddled spiced chicken on a bed of cabbage and mashed sweet potato/potato with a mushroom cream sauce
Wednesday: Gnocchi and meatball tomato bake
Thursday: Beef stroganoff Pheasant au vin with cabbage,peas and boiled potatoes
Friday: Sausage and Bean stew
Saturday: Thai takeaway treat 😉

As you can see this week has already had one adjustment, Andrews Dad gave us half a pheasant and well I was eager to experiment with it – I’d never tried pheasant before and it was a pleasant (see what I did there) surprise. The sauce that I made to accompany it which is loosely based on the River Cottage Cock pheasant au vin recipe was delicious and rich.

I think I’m pretty good at using up leftovers and not overspending (most of the time) but I was still finding myself wasting a lot of vegetables and on occasions meat. It makes me angry at myself so this is a new way to try to stop that.

I am also finding that now most days Izzy will eat what we eat. This makes life so much easier.
I adapted a few of our dishes to suit her, in particular the meatballs in tomato sauce which we had with gnocchi on Wednesday I instead covered with mash from Tuesday and baked for her ..wow she loved it even pointing and wanting more.

As much as I love cooking sometimes it’s nice to take a break and order in, we are lucky to have the most wonderful Thai takeaway just minutes from our house so I’m excited to eat that tomorrow. Massamam curry is a big favourite in our house.