Autumn Equinox pt2
Plum and Apple Crumble and Vanilla Ice cream
There are few things more satisfying than a bowl of warm-from-oven fruit crumble with a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream melting into the warm pudding below. A close second, and some might argue a hot contender for first place, is to omit the actual freezing of the ice cream and just pour the custard straight over the crumble. In either case, it is one of the coziest desserts to enjoy curled up on the sofa…perfect as the leaves begin to turn.
The combination of plums and apples is so good at this time of the year when they are both in season…the plums giving extra juice and tartness to liven up the apples, helping the crumble from falling too quickly into the feeling of a wintery coma.
I love making crumbles because they are so versatile. This recipe is very basic, but you can substitute nuts and wholegrain flours for the oats and flour in any amount. Had I thought of it in time I would have added a small handful of toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped, to this topping. Rye flour is great to use with apples, spelt is another favourite, and because you are not relying on the flour to provide any real structural integrity you don’t have to be concerned about it falling apart- it is just there to hang out with the butter and make friends with the fruit below. To make a gluten free topping, substitute the flour for a mix of half ground almonds and half rice flour and use gluten free oats. I also like to add coconut, though my kids won’t eat if I do. If I am making a vegan crumble I will use either coconut oil, which is my preference, or olive oil thoughI find the flavour of the olive oil too overpowering for the fruit in general.
Feel free to subtract or add sugar as you prefer. I had very tart apples (gathered from a neighborhood tree) and plums so this was a good amount to use here, but if you have very sweet fruit, you may with to omit a couple of tablespoons. The topping is not very sweet, I prefer it that way, but feel free to add a couple of tablespoons if you like.
Plum and apple crumble
4 apples, partially peeled, cut into roughly 1/2 inch pieces
6-8 plums (I used Stanley), roughly cut into 1/8s
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 c Sugar
Topping:
2/3 c flour
2/3 oats
1/3 sugar
Pinch salt
Pinch cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*F
Grease an oven-proof non-reactive baking dish (preferably ceramic, glass or enamel) that is 8-9inches in diameter and at least 2-3inches high.
In a separate bowl toss together the fruit, lemon juice and the 1/2 cup of sugar, then tip this into the greased baking dish.
In a clean bowl, place all the the dry topping ingredients and toss them to combine. Add the butter to the top and using your finger tips, lightly rub the butter into the flour mixture by rubbing your fingertips together with a piece of butter between them in the flour. You will end up with a craggy looking pile flour that somewhat resembles breadcrumbs. Once there are no large pieces of butter left, scoop the flour mix onto the top of the crumble and bread it over evenly. try not to pack it down too much.
Bake in the oven until it is a lovely golden brown on top and the juice from the fruit is starting to bubble up the sides- every oven is different but it should take about 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for a few moments before serving with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream or a pool of custard.
Vanilla Ice Cream
The classic. It is hard to beat a good vanilla ice cream.
This is my preferred version, though if you want it even richer, add 2 more egg yolks. If you want to a little lighter, sub up to 2/3 of a cup of cream for more milk.
Vanilla bean paste is very good if you cannot get vanilla bean, and I will often halve the amount of vanilla bean and add a splash of good extract to make my beans go further. I always store the vanilla pods after I use them. After cooking them in the custard, I rinse them off really well and store them in a jar full of sugar- I have a jar full of used vanilla beans in sugar and it is the best sugar in the world!
2 cups of cream
1 cup of milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped using the back of a small knife or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
6 egg yolks
2/3 c sugar
Have a heatproof bowl, ideally glass or ceramic, ready to pour the custard into when it is cooked. If you like you can set a strainer over this to catch the vanilla bean and any potential lumps that form, but I think this just makes extra washing up.
Heat the cream, milk and vanilla bean seeds and pod in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat just as the mixture comes to a boil and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile in a heatproof bowl whisk the eggs and sugar together for a minute or so (hand whisk is fine), and then whisk in about 1/4 cup of warm milk. Whisk in another 1/4 cup milk and then whisk in the remaining milk. Pour back into the sauce pan and return to a low heat.
Stirring constantly, ideally with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, cook slowly until the mixture thicken enough to just coat the back of the wooden spoon. Meaning that when you lift the spoon out of the custard, there is a thin film of custard that remains on it- if you then draw a line on the spoon through the custard it will stay. Immediately pour the custard into the bowl that you have on standby and continue to stir for a few minutes as it cools down. Cool and then remove the vanilla bean. Transfer to a container and refrigerate the custard overnight to cool completely before churning in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions. I find it best to transfer you ice cream the the freezer (try to freeze the container it is going to to ahead of time if you can) for about 4 hours to firm it up properly.
It is always a good idea to remove ice cream from the freezer about 10 minutes before you want to serve it to give it a chance to warm a little, making to easier to serve and better to taste.
FOR CUSTARD: as a general rule, ice cream custard is usually a little sweeter than you would prefer to eat plain because some of the sweetness is ‘dampened’ when it freezes. Therefore if I know that I am making custard to eat as custard I use 1/2 cup of sugar rather than 2/3. Make as above until the step of cooling/ freezing. Of course you can cool it if you do not want to eat right away! If you wish to re-heat, do so very gently over low heat until just warm to avoid curdling.
