rhubarb-strawberry crisp

June equals outdoor evenings and peak rhubarb and strawberry season. This topping recipe, adapted from Alice Waters’s Simple Food, can be used with most any fruit…things like peaches and plums will require less sugar and no cornstarch to thicken

crisp recipe

Use a 9” by 13” or similar size baking dish

Topping Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2/3 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped (you can swap for other nuts such as pecans, walnuts, or pistachios)

  • 5 TBS brown sugar

  • 1 1/2 TBS granulated sugar

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 12 TBS (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:

  1. Put all ingredients except the butter into a medium bowl and stir to mix. Toss in the butter pieces then, working quickly, work the butter mixture into the flour with your fingers and palms. Mix it just until butter is mostly incorporated and you have an uneven crumble with some bigger chunks. Texture should not be uniformly sandy. You can also use a food processor or stand mixer—just take care not to overmix. Refrigerator the mixture until ready to use (you can also freeze it and use it later).

Fruit base Ingredients:

  • 1 TBS or so butter for greasing pan

  • 4 stalks rhubarb, chopped into approx. 1/2-inch thick pieces (doesn’t need to be precise)

  • 1 quart strawberries, hulled and sliced into quarters or sixths (depending on their size)

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

  • 2 TBS cornstarch

To Make the Crisp:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Put strawberries and rhubarb in a bowl and toss with the sugar and cornstarch to coat evenly. Allow to macerate at room temperature 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, to release liquid and allow it to dissolve the sugar and cornstarch.

  2. Grease pan with butter, then give fruit a final stir and lay it evenly in the baking pan. Take the crisp topping from fridge and layer it on top of fruit evenly. Bake in middle rack of oven for 40-45 minutes, until the fruit bubbles up around the edges and the topping is golden brown. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.