A signature dish

You know you have a signature dish, when people track you down from the furthest reaches of the globe when they need a special recipe.  Here's what popped up on my facebook page a couple of weeks ago:

“Foodthattastesgreat”, be a darling and please pass on the finer details of your delicious apple crumble. Having a dinner party tomorrow, gonna be cold and wet so plan open fire, red wine, slow roasted pork belly with crackling followed by your apple crumble with icecream.  

Thanks 

Ben [Old friend and flatmate]

I love to share recipes, so it was no problem to oblige, and the recipe made its way from Wellington, New Zealand to Cape Town, South Africa though the wonders of the interweb.  I understand that there were no leftovers.

Apple crumble

The crumble mixture is enough for 2 crumbles.  8 apples will feed 4-6 people.  This recipe can expand/contract to feed a few or feed an army!

1 cup soft brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup self raising flour

125g butter

8 apples (plus anything else you like with them – rhubarb, berries, etc)

Whizz all ingredients except the apples together until they look like fine crumbs.

Peel, core and slice the apples, cook with enough water to cover bottom of saucepan and a good sprinkling of sugar. Put apples in baking dish (add blackberries etc if desired).

You can do all this the day before, or well before the guests arrive. The trick is to then heat the apples through in a 180 C oven for 10mins or so, then add a thick layer of crumble, and cook for another 10-20 mins, but keep an eye on it so the top doesn't burn.  The crumble will caramelise and is almost biscuit-like.

All that's left to do now, is add some ice-cream, cream or custard, and it's ready to eat.

Leftover crumble mixture freezes well – so pop it into a bag, and it’s ready to provide instant fruit crumble when you need it.