Now I was lucky enough to be taken to Warsaw in Poland this week by my wonderful boyfriend J. I have plenty to tell you about my trip but while I sort out my photos I thought I’d share this recipe with you.

Now this recipe makes fruit taste absolutely wonderful – even those watery strawberries you sometimes buy when they’re not quite in season. I ended up making far too much crumble topping compared with the fruit I prepared but I froze the rest, ready to make another. Crumble is a fantastic dessert all the year round; you can use whatever fruit is in season, you can scale the size of them up or down, its warming and hearty and deliciously filling. I made this for when I went to my Uncle’s house for Sunday lunch and his only criticism was that I didn’t make a bigger crumble. (Next time, I promise!)

I would suggest using more fruit than I did – maybe double the quantity. The oats add crunch and texture and are packed full of nutrients. While nobody could argue that this is healthy, it’s certainly better than some desserts. You can make the fruit part in advance, or even do what I did and cook the crumble 5 minutes less and then reheat in the oven just before serving. It really is that versatile.

To make this you will need:

(For the fruit base)

1 punnet strawberries

1 punnet raspberries (or half a bag frozen raspberries)

1 apple

Caster sugar

1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract (or a vanilla pod)

 

(For the topping)

110g butter

110g Demerara sugar

150g plain flour

50g porridge oats

 

(Serves 4, with extra crumble topping for freezing)

 

Peel and chop the apple and cut the strawberries into bite sized pieces. Add all the fruit to a pan. Cover the fruit well with the sugar (you can adjust the amount of sugar later). Add the vanilla.

Heat the fruit on a medium heat. Keep stirring the fruit and it will start to thicken after a few minutes. When the fruit starts looking more juicy taste the juice and add more sugar if you think it needs it.

Leave to cool for a while in order for the fruit to thicken more. At this point your whole kitchen should smell wonderfully fruity. Embrace it.

To make the crumble topping preheat the oven to 180°C. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and give a mix so everything is dispersed thoroughly.

Add the butter. Rub the dry mixture into the butter so that it forms “breadcrumbs”.

Put the fruit into an oven proof dish (I like to use pyrex dishes). Top with your crumble topping.

Put into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crumble is golden and crunchy on top.

Serve hot with whatever you fancy. My Uncle and cousin like custard, my Auntie and I had a bit of cream and coconut ice cream. After roast chicken dinner and this crumble we were all feeling pretty full. Luckily I’d had a tiny lunch which made everything taste all the better.

I hope you like this recipe as much as I enjoyed making it.