Tag: Strawberry

Strawberry Rhubarb (and Orange) Crisp

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp from Serious Crust

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp from Serious Crust
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp from Serious Crust

Well friends, my favorite season is upon us. The season of rhubarb. The time of year when I try to fit in as many strawberry-rhubarb (or just rhubarb) recipes as my taste buds can handle, which is usually not a problem. These days, I buy a large bag of rhubarb every weekend at the farmers market, and then I whip something up late in the week to enjoy over the weekend. Thus far, I’ve made a pie, some compote, rhubarb simple syrup so I can make these, and this strawberry rhubarb crisp.

I found the inspiration for this recipe on a blog I love, and read at least a few times a week called Design Sponge. It’s a beautiful design blog, full of postings about furniture DIYs, beautiful spaces, colors, living in, city guides, recipes, party ideas, women running their own businesses… the list goes on and on. I find so many things on this blog that inspire me, and so many of their pictures make me wish I could be wherever the photo was taken. Seriously, I recommend it.

Anyway, I thought this recipe would be especially nice because of the addition of the sweet citrus of orange to the usual strawberry-rhubarb-ness. It’s always nice to try a little twist to shake things up, no? I made the filling (based on the recipe I found on the website), and my roommate Carmelle made the topping (and did not follow a recipe at all – she’s like that), so while mine had a different topping, I’ll give you the topping they have on Design Sponge. I also doubled the amount of filling, mostly because I had a ton of strawberries and rhubarb to use up, but I’ll give you the smaller portions, and you can double if you’d like.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling

2 cups fresh rhubarb, diced (about 3 stalks)
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced into large pieces
3/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch (depending on how juicy your strawberries are, you may want more)
1/4 cup orange juice (preferably fresh-squeezed, as per usual)

Crisp Topping

3/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup quick cooking (not instant) oatmeal
7 tablespoons (about 3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Whipped cream or ice cream for serving

Instructions

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To make the filling, mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and orange zest together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and mix it into the rest of the filling. Drain about 1/2 cup of juice from the mixture into a cup and set aside (you will use this later to pour over individual servings). The best way to do this is get an extra person to help you tip the bowl while keeping the fruit in with a wooden spoon. Pour the filling into an 8×8 baking dish and place it on a sheet pan (not a terrible idea to line it with parchment paper or foil).

Crisp Topping

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sugars, flour, salt and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles. You want the butter to stay cold, so if you don’t have a mixer, either work quickly with your hands or use a pastry cutter type thing. Sprinkle the topping over the filling, covering it completely, and bake for about 45 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Allow to cool, and once it has you can pour that drained juice from earlier over the top of each serving (Or, if you’re lazy, you can pour it over the whole dish). Serve warm with fresh whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream, if that’s how you roll).

Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake
Shortcake

A perfect scene for eating shortcake

Wow you guys. This is the longest I have gone without posting here. I’m going to do my best to get back on the horse, but I can’t make any promises. Here are a few reasons August was a little rough:

1) We travelled quite a bit. To Seattle twice: once for a farewell party for my sister (who just moved to Berkeley, CA to pursue her dreams), once for a wedding (congrats to Johnny and Sophie!), and then to Minnesota for Jonah’s family reunion.

2) I was nannying AND working at Pagatim. It was… a lot.

3) We moved! It’s official! We now live in a beautiful grown up house with friends. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have doors between rooms (for example, there is not only a door between our bedroom and kitchen, but an entire floor/ceiling, which means Jonah can no longer wake me up in the morning by eating his cereal), a full sized kitchen (with a dishwasher!), big windows and lots of light, a patio out back… the list goes on.

But really, I know there is no excuse to leave you hanging like that, so my hope is to not let that happen again. One of the times I went to Seattle this summer, we went to see a viewing of The Princess Bride at the Mural Amphitheater right under the Space Needle. It was so fun, and we packed a wonderful picnic to bring along. I made these shortcakes for dessert, and they were so delicious.

Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

Shortcake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup to top shortcakes
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Strawberry Filling

2 pints ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced (I think we used raspberries instead)
2 Tbl granulated sugar
2-3 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
We also added a few roughly chopped mint and lemon verbena leaves

Whipped cream for serving, preferably homemade

Instructions

Shortcake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a baking sheet. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Then stir in the cream and lemon zest. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form it into a ball, then knead about 12 times, or until the dough holds its shape (careful not to overwork it!). Cut the dough into 8 equal portions and form the portions into balls. Dip each ball into the melted butter, and then dip half of the ball into the (1/3 cup) sugar. Place each ball onto the baking sheet, sugared side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on edges and baked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Filling

While the shortcake is baking, you can get started on the fruit. Now, I didn’t follow the recipe when it came to the fruit. I combined the berries, sugar, lemon, and herbs in a pot and put it over low heat. Let it cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is absorbed and the berries start to soften, then remove from heat. (You can also prepare the whipped cream while the shortcakes are baking.)

To serve, slice the shortcakes in half horizontally, spoon a heaping serving of the fruit over the bottom half, then put on as much whipped cream as you’d like, and put the top on. These are a lovely end-of-summer dessert, simple but really delicious. Enjoy!