Rhubarb and Amaretti Crumble with Vanilla Bean Custard
– How to cheat

Yes, you can buy packets of crumble mix, which I suppose would be the obvious choice for a cheat, but please don’t. They are full of undesirables like hydrogenated vegetable oil and not a hint of butter. The thing about this crumble is that you can just fling all the ingredients into a processor and, at the push of a button, you have what must be the very best crumble topping of all. I’m using rhubarb in this case because it’s at its best now, but you can in fact use this crumble with any fruit you care to choose. Also – because crumble and custard are made for each other – another good cheats’ wheeze is to scrape the seeds out of a vanilla pod into a tub of Tesco Finest fresh custard. It’s funny how that extra shot of fragrant vanilla just makes it taste homemade!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb (450 g) rhubarb
11/2 tablespoons demerara sugar
1½ tablespoons demerara sugar
1 level teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumble:

1½ oz (40 g) chilled butter, cut into small dice
3 oz (75 g) self-raising flour
2 oz (50 g) demerara sugar
2 oz (50 g) whole almonds, skin on
4 Amaretti Virginia biscuits

To serve:

1 x 500 g tub Tesco Finest fresh custard
1 vanilla pod

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

You will also need a 7½ inch/19 cm square baking dish, such as Apilco.

All you do with the rhubarb is wash it, then cut it into 1 inch (2.5 cm) chunks and arrange these in a baking dish (we used a 7½ inch/19 cm square Apilco dish). Then just sprinkle the sugar and ginger on top.

Now for the crumble: all you do is place the butter, flour and sugar in the processor and give it a whiz until it resembles crumbs. Next add the almonds and amaretti biscuits and process again – not too fast – until they are fairly finely chopped but with a few chunky bits.

Now simply sprinkle the crumble mixture all over the rhubarb, spreading it right up to the edges of the dish and, using the flat of your hands, press it down quite firmly all over; the more tightly it is packed together the crisper it will be.

Bake the crumble on the centre shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes, by which time the rhubarb will be soft and the topping golden brown and crisp. Meanwhile empty the custard into a serving jug, split the vanilla pod lengthways and, using a teaspoon, scrape the seeds into the custard, then keep it chilled in the fridge.

Serve the crumble warm from the oven with the chilled custard and just sit back and wait for all the ‘wows’ and ‘yums’.

Hero ingredients: