Rhubarb ginger crisp

Hey, remember last time when I wrote about how much I like asparagus? Well guess what else I like? Rhubarb! Yep. It's true. And now that I have my own yard, I can actually grown some to enjoy for next year.

But for this year, I had to rely on a rhubarb delivery from Lakefield. It was soon going to expire in my fridge, so I thought I should use it up. I decided to try Jamie Oliver's recipe for a rhubarb ginger crumble, since it's a combination I already like. The results were good, but frankly I've made a better crisp on my own, just throwing some crystalized ginger and a vanilla bean in with the fruit before covering with topping.

But this post isn't about my creation, it's about Jamie's. So here we go...

Start off by measuring the chopped rhubarb. You need two pounds and you can see I was just short of it, but then I went back and stole as much good stuff from the ends I had discarded to top up the bowl.

Next, you cook the fruit down with some brown sugar. This is an interesting step, I guess designed to get rid of some of the moisture in the rhubarb. It worked, but I don't really mind soupy crisps anyway.

Then you add the topping and pop it in the oven.

Here's what it looks like with a couple of helpings removed. Tasty, but not overly gingery, which is too bad.

Rhubarb and sticky stem ginger crumble

Recipe from Jamie at Home

•1kg rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into large chunks
• 200g soft brown sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
• 100g plain flour
• 100g cold butter
• 100g oats
• 2 pieces of stem ginger, chopped

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Put the rhubarb and half the sugar into a pan. Add the orange juice and zest, put a lid on top, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for around 5 more minutes, until the rhubarb has softened slightly. Spoon into an ovenproof baking dish or individual dishes and spread out evenly across the bottom.

To make your crumble topping, use your fingers to lightly rub together the flour and butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the oats, the rest of the sugar and the stem ginger. (If you like, you can make the crumble topping in a food processor. Just whack in the flour, butter, sugar and stem ginger and whiz up. Add the oats for the last 10 seconds.) Sprinkle the crumbs over the rhubarb and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the rhubarb is bubbling up and the crumble is golden.