Time for the humble Crumble

A fruit crumble is a comfortable and straight up pudding. Its simplicity is its magic.  Apple Crumble is the classic, but you can use any fruit for a crumble.  I've  discovered a combination that the home taste panel really like....Apple, Feijoa and Banana Crumble - an idea from Julie Biuso.

Autumn brings apples, pears, feijoas and walnuts to my pantry.    

A crumble is a perfect autumn pudding when apples, pears, and feijoas are in plentiful supply and the cooler weather creates an appetite for warming comfort food.

I served the crumble with yoghurt and some yummy Rewarewa
liquid honey from The Naked Honey Pot Co based in Hawkes Bay.

There are variations on the kind of crumble topping you can use to best show off your fruit. 

As this is a famous English pudding I decided to use a crumble recipe from a chef who is famous for promoting traditional British food, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. His only alteration to the original is an option to replace one-third of the flour for ground almond meal.   Hugh doesn't go for nuts or spices in his crumble as he feels they can upstage the pure flavour of the fruit.

Apple, Feijoa and Banana Crumble (with traditional crumble topping)

Crumble Ingredients:

180 g plain flour

120 g butter, chilled and cut into cubes

160 g brown sugar or caster sugar ( I cut this back to 4 Tbsp of brown sugar to reduce sugar)

(alternatively use 120 g of flour and 4 Tbsp of ground almonds to make the crumble richer and benefit from the added nutrition of almonds).

 Rub/mix the butter and flour together, either by hand or food processor, until it looks like course breadcrumbs.  Then add sugar and ground almonds.  The food processor tends to make a finer more even crumb.

Banana, apple and Feijoa - choose to use
more fruit if you want a deep crumble

Fruit Ingredients:

2 large cooking apples (or 3 Granny Smith apples)

2 - 4  Feijoas - flesh scooped out and cut up 

2 bananas

You don't need to be so exact with measurements - ideally you fill your baking dish 2/3rd fruit, the other 1/4 to 1/3 being the topping. 

Add the juice of half a lemon and mix well through fruit to avoid fruit turning brown.

Add 1 Tbsp of sugar (if using tart cookers you may want a little extra sugar).  Remember bananas contain a lot of fruit sugar and it's good to have a contrast of slightly tart fruit with the sweet topping.  

Add fruit to a greased baking dish.  The baking dish I used was 18 cm by 26 with a depth of 6 cm but you can use any shaped dish.

The food processor was used for this crumble topping and makes for

an even and fine textured topping.   I gently pat down the topping. 

Now spread over the crumble mix.  Hugh suggests using your fingers to scrunch together the crumble in places to form small peaks.  I didn't do this but if you do then the peaks would be crunchy adding another layer of texture to the crumble.

Cook for 30-40 minutes at 180.  If the crumble starts to brown then cover with aluminium foil.  The fruit should be bubbling up  around the edges of the crumble.

Its the kind of pudding that tastes a whole lot
better than it looks and is made perfect by serving with ice cream ,
cream or yoghurt.

I refer to the crumble as humble because it is a simple dessert with few ingredients.  It was also born out of hard times, created during World War II when rationing meant that pies were not an option. Today we have plenty of flour and butter but we are short on time, so the humble crumble is once again gaining popularity.   A crumble takes only a few minutes to prepare for a no fuss bake in the oven. 

Since the 1940's the crumble recipe has been exported and adopted by cooks in many countries.  I don't know if it is due to our fondness for ANZAC biscuits but in New Zealand we like to add rolled oats to the crumble crust.  The presence of oats somehow makes it OK to eat the leftovers next morning for breakfast.

NZ Apple Crumble - by Alison Holst

You can use a food processor to prepare the crumble topping but if you have a few minutes to spare, want less washing up and a more rustic looking crumble, then try doing it the old fashioned way by "rubbing butter into flour".

For a change you can make crumble in indvidual ramekins

and I served it with yoghurt and half a sliced apple. Thinly sliced

apple brings the flavours of the apple to life and is a contrast to the cooked version    

First prepare the crumble topping:

half a cup of flour

half a teaspoon cinnamon

half a teaspoon mixed spice

three quarters cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

75g butter

half a cup rolled oats

 

Rub the butter first into the flour and any added spices.
Then add the sugar - makes the task less gritty that way.

To "rub butter into flour" first cover the butter pieces with flour and gently push and spread the butter into the flour between your thumb and fingers.  

Then rub the crumb with your fingers interlocked like this until it
looks like coarse breadcrumbs

Then add sugar and rolled oats.  Now its time to prepare the fruit - 4 apples (depending on the size).

Alison recommends grating the apple skin and all.  This is a good idea if you haven't got a true cooking apple that will break down quickly and fluff up like a souffle when cooked.  

For a change I used individual ramekins for cooking and serving
my version of Alison's Apple Crumble.

I fill them 1/2 to 2/3rds full and then add the crumble topping.  Bake at 180C for 30 minutes (45 minutes if using a medium sized ovenware dish) 

My Mum used to make a crumble that had fresh bread crumbs included with the flour.  I couldn't find any reference to using breadcrumbs in crumbles in my search for recipes.  I think this must have been a family recipe handed down from her Scottish grandmother.   It would make sense to use the stale bread and not waste it.  

Peasgood Non Such - a real favourite of mine.  One of the largest cooking apples
with an extraordinary name.  They fluff up beautifully and taste great.

I remember her crumble as being delicious.  I am keen to recreate this humble crumble family recipe probably using Alison's recipe and replacing the oats with bread crumbs.  But to make a true recreation  I need to source some real cooking apples up here in Auckland.    

It's raining Feijoa!

The drought in Auckland has broken.  Not only rain is falling in our suburban garden it's also raining feijoa. What a treat for a southerner!

Feijoa is perfumed, sweet and a tart fruit all in one.

To ensure the fruit is at its maximum flavour you need to wait until they fall, but this does mean they only last for a precious few days once they hit the ground. Feijoa do bruise so you need to handle them as you would a peach.

The best way to eat a feijoa is raw, cut in half and scooped out with a spoon. The juicy sweet seed centre is a different texture to the outer part of the fruit.  The outer edge can be tart and usually has a grainy texture, especially when not at full ripeness.

You too may have this fruit in abundance or have been given a bagfull and are looking for fresh ideas on how to use them.

 Here are three of my feijoa favourites....

Feijoa Salsa

As the Feijoa originates from South America, Salsa is a most appropriate dish to start with. It makes a great starter with bread and crackers or to accompany a main.  It works well with chicken or fish.

This is something that I put together with what I have in the kitchen.  You can use any combination of fruit/vegetables for a salsa.  It usually has some heat from chillies, onions or garlic. Always taste as you go to see if it needs more acid, heat or sweetness.

Begin by finely chopping a small red onion or half a large one, a red pepper or a chilli pepper (depending on the heat you want to add to the salsa) and a clove of garlic finely diced.

Scoop out the flesh and chop about 6 Feijoas (you can use more or less).  

To give the salsa a tang, add the juice of a lime or lemon.  

Decide on the herb flavour you want to use or have on hand.   I used coriander.  It worked well with Feijoa but you could use basil, tarragon, parsley or mint.  The choice is yours. Season with salt and pepper.  

Add a good slurp of olive or avocado oil. 

If you feel it needs a little more sweetness add a tsp of honey.

Feijoa Sorbet with Ginger

The first time I made sorbet I was rather apprehensive because it seemed so exotic and surely must be difficult.   But let me tell you it's so easy...just plan ahead a couple of days to allow for the freezing process.  You can even make sorbet easier by using an ice cream machine, but I don't have one and did a perfectly good job with a stick mixer, a recycled ice cream container and the freezer. 

Feijoa Sorbet  has an ever so slight pink tinge and is an
excellent light dessert after a filling main course.

This is a mix of two recipes I found.  One using egg white and the other using ginger beer. In the Sorbet world there is a debate over whether you should add egg white or not, as some feel the egg white can flatten the flavour of the fruit. My home kitchen taste panel voted the egg white version the best for Feijoa because it produced a sorbet more like a gelato ice cream.

Ingredients

• 400g sugar (originally had caster sugar but I used ordinary)
• 2 or 3 slices of ginger (or to taste)
• 750 ml water
• juice of ½-1 lemon (helps to stop feijoa puree turning brown and does cut the sweetness)
• 250 ml feijoa puree that has been strained
• 1 egg white beaten to soft peak

First bring the sugar, water and ginger to the boil for 3-4 minutes.  Turn off and allow to cool slightly.

While the syrup is cooking and cooling, puree the scooped Feijoa flesh.   To make 250 ml of pulp that is strained you will need to make about one quarter to a third more puree as the grainy flesh stays behind in the sieving process.

Take out the ginger and add the sieved puree to the syrup. I know its a lot of sugar but you do need sugar to keep it soft.   Alternatively if you add alcohol, then you can reduce the sugar.  If a sorbet is too soft it means you have too much sugar, not enough sugar and your sorbet will be ice. 

Next fold in stiffly beaten egg white... easier said than done!?

The first time I tried this recipe it was for a dinner party and I thought I had a disaster on my hands at this stage of the process. The egg white just floated. I tipped it into my ice cream container, put it in the freezer in the hope that when I got it out the next morning the egg white would behave.

Left is the rather ugly first night freeze of the sorbet, centre the kitchen stick blender in action
and right is the finished sorbet to go back in the freezer.

Next morning my fears vanished.  Once I whizzed up the frozen slush with a stick blender the egg white became part of the sorbet making it  light, smooth and even creamy. Ideally, you do this process at least one more time before serving. 

The sorbet was a big hit. I served it with halved Feijoa, limoncello and a basil leaf.

We kiwis have really taken the Feijoa to our hearts and our gardens since first introduced in the 1920's.  Overseas you might see them called Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen.    

Feijoa are from the Myrtle family.  You can see

the family resemblance to our native Pohutakawa! 

Photo from Feijoa Feijoa - fabulous recipes for Feijoa lovers

You can use the flower stamens in salads and they taste cinnamon-like.  I am keen to try this next spring.

The Red Cherry Guava and Feijoa - both have a similar
shaped flower stalk

I don't have particularly fond childhood memories of guavas.   Mum would buy tinned guavas as a treat from the tropics. The large pale pink seedy fruits were never very appealing.

But I was introduced to the Red Cherry Guava in our garden by friends Jules and Ruud, ex Aucklanders now living in Christchurch.   With nostalgia for the flavours of the north they pounced on the few that were ripe and we realised we had a treat ahead for us.

The Red Cherry Guava is the size of a marble or a small crab apple. It has a dull red thick skin and like Feijoa they are packed with vitamin C with most of the vitamin C being in the skin.  Guavas are related to the Feijoa and have that same perfumed sweet flavour.

Down south I would make crab apple or hawthorn and apple jelly.  I decided this year I would make a jelly more fitting for Auckland - Feijoa and Guava Jelly.  

I used about half a bucket of Feijoa and around 1 kilo
of Red Cherry Guava.

I cut the Feijoas in half to check that the fruit is not too old and to assist in the breakdown of the fruit.  I decided to add to the flavour with a cinnamon stick, to reflect the taste of the Feijoa flowers. Barely cover the fruit with water and cook until mushy.  Alison Holst advises for her pink Feijoa Jelly not to squash the fruit.  I decided to give the soft fruit a bit of a squash with a potato masher.

The one rule in jelly making is "don't squeeze the bag" or your jelly will end up cloudy.   I thought mashing the fruit at the cooking stage may also cloud the jelly.. but then for Rosehip jelly you actually puree the cooked hips in a blender before cooking a second time before going through the jelly bag.  

To make your own jelly bag simply sew up a piece of cotton muslin
to the size of a pillowcase.   It's something you will have for years.

 Once the fruit is soft it's time to extract the liquid to make the jelly.  I sit the jelly bag inside a large bowl, pour in the contents of the pot, and slowly lift the bag and tie to a stick or broom handle that sits between to chairs.   Leave it hanging for 24 hrs and don't let anyone squeeze the bag!

Notice that the jelly has a layer of scum.  This disapates with the addition
of a nob of butter and a stir after you take it off the heat.

Most jelly recipes say one cup of sugar to one cup of liquid.   I like my jelly to have a real tang and reducing the sugar even a little is a good thing.  I use the same formula as for marmalade.  3/4 cup of sugar to a cup of liquid plus an extra half cup.  So for my 11 cups of juice  I needed 8 1/4 cups of sugar. I rounded the measurement up to 9 cups of sugar to 11 cups of juice.  You do need sugar for preserving and setting so it is a balancing act.  

Heat the liquid and then add the sugar, stirring until all sugar is dissolved, to avoid sticking on the bottom.  Get the jelly up to a rolling boil and continue to boil until the jelly shows signs of setting.  

As I was unsure of the pectin content (pectin in fruit ensures the jelly or jam sets) in Feijoa and guava I was preparing myself for the jelly not setting.  It seemed like ages it was boiling and it wasn't setting so I added the juice of a lemon.  Lemon assists in the setting because it is high in pectin.

To test the set I find the best way is to place saucers into the freezer prior to making the jelly and spoon a little onto the really cold plate.   If you blow on it and a skin wrinkles on the top or when you push with your finger and the liquid doesnt close up behind, then you have jelly.  

It's not the end of the world if it doesn't set first time. You just re-boil with added sugar. I wanted a soft set jelly with plenty of wobble.   It wasn't setting in the saucer but it was starting to jelly on the wooden spoon so I took a risk and poured it into clean hot jars that I had sterilizing in the oven at 150 degrees.

Place the hot jars on a wooden board as the wood will avoid
 jars cracking that may occur with a contrast of heat on a metal surface.

Fill the jars with a small jug and seal.  I seal by first putting on a cellophane seal and then put on screw lids from recycled glass jars.   This will avoid evaporation that will occur with cellophane only.

I had to wait until the next morning to see if my jelly had set...and yes it had! A lovely rich red wobbly jelly. I made a batch of scones for the home taste panel and everyone who partook loved the jelly.

For those of you down south I imagine it will be too late now to make Hawthorn jelly but in Central Otago the rosehips will be ready to pick after a couple of frosts.  The frost increases the sweetness of the hips.  As collecting rosehips is a prickly and time consuming business I suggest adding apples to bulk out the fruit.

Rosehips growing along the Central Otago Rail trail

 I am going to share my Feijoa bounty and have packed up a small box with a jar of jelly for my sister Kerry in Dunedin.  I will also keep a jar of jelly for Jules and Ruud as a thank you for introducing me to the Red Cherry Guava.  

The joy about making jelly is sharing what you make with your friends.   The trouble is, you then have to make another brew because the cupboard is bare.  But its an inexpensive and well appreciated gift. 

To me there is nothing better than a reminder of summer or autumn fruit in the form of a jelly with a scone or crossiant on a winter weekend morning. 

Like a proper 'nana?

Bananas are a marvellous fruit and, like me, you probably include a bunch in your shopping trolley.

But how many of us think about how they are grown?

One Kiwi business just down the road from where we live has not only thought about it but have been active in ensuring the farmers and plantation workers who grow their bananas receive a fair living wage and that toxic chemicals are not used in their cultivation.  All Good Bananas operate out of a suitably banana yellow corrugated iron shed in Grey Lynn.

All Good Banana Headquaters in Auckland and the distinctive wrap
 "Good for growers. Good for you"

All Good Bananas first grabbed my attention in the local community newspaper where I read they had become the first New Zealand business to be named amongst the World's Most Ethical (WME) companies.  That is sure an achievement for a company that employs just ten staff, especailly when other companies recognised are commercial giants like Marks & Spencer in the UK and Wholefoods in the US.

All Good Bananas website convinced me that I should change my banana buying habits.  On the website you can search where their bananas are sold all over New Zealand.   To my friends in Dunedin, Taste Nature sells them.

On their website you can download a variety of posters

Bananas are versatile.   They make a smoothie rich and creamy, boost a winter breakfast when allowed to just warm through in a pot of hot porridge, and can be your pre packed lunch on the run.   When the skin turns brown and spotty, welcome them to the world of baking and muffins or banana cake.

My bunch of All Good Bananas were used to make a quick, easy and delicious dessert for our friends Julia and Graham.

Orange Flamed Bananas

Ingredients: 

1 banana per person...about 25 gms of butter...heaped Tbsp of honey (or to taste)...

brandy or any preferred liqueur (if you wish to flame the bananas)...1-2 oranges.

Heat about 25 grams of butter in pan add honey or raw cane sugar, stir and let it bubble,

Gently slide in Bananas cut in half lengthways. 

I used Waitaki Honey that perfumed the kitchen wonderfully while I cooked the bananas.
This honey was featured on my posting "Waitaki Honey with Plums and Basil"

Cook until the bananas begin to change colour

Then add the juice of 1 or 2 oranges 

I used Contreau liquer with complemented the orange flavours

Served with hokey-pokey icecream and some honey wafer shards

To buy All Good Bananas you usually pay $3.99 a kilo which is $1 more a kilo of non Fair Trade bananas.  The dollar difference ensures that growers know the price they will get and the premium they are paid has resulted in community projects, like building schools.

Angel Iniguez, a grower from Equador,  has a message for  banana consumers in New Zealand: 

“The important thing is to keep helping us by buying our Fairtrade bananas. We are small producers and by buying our bananas, you are helping us and the workers on our farms to progress. If you don’t buy our fruit, we can’t look forward to better times and keep taking care of the environment!”


My friend Julia is an excellent baker and generous with it.  She's always whipping up a cake for someone at work or a friend who is celebrating a birthday.  I thought of Julia when I wanted to find a different and good banana cake.

Alison Holst's biography with Barbara Larsen
(who has a great eye for a story).  Alison a Dunedin gal first
appeared on our TV screens nearly 50 years ago for a series titled
"Here's How" made in Dunedin  Dowling Street Studios. 

Julia suggested a recipe from home cook doyenne, Alison Holst who has written over 100 cookbooks. Alison has named it Crazy Cake - not sure why, but then Dame Alison has earned the right to call a recipe anything she wants.  It's a chocolate banana batter cake.  Julia has successfully tripled the recipe and cooked it in a roasting dish as a celebratory cake for a large crowd.

I believe the best cakes are made by creaming butter and sugar with eggs, but I have to admit this cake was delicious, very easy and light.   I think it's the combination of vinegar and baking soda that gives the batter the lift to make the cake light.   The addition of banana ensures a moist cake.

Crazy Banana Cake

Here are the dried ingredients in the bowl, and the water, oil
and vinegar ready to be added.  How simple is that!

Turn on the oven to 180 C.

Prepare the dry ingredients and sift:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup of sugar (I used 2/3 cup)
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Add the wet ingredients:
2 Tbsp Malt Vinegar (I didnt have malt so I used Red Wine Vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup of vegetable oil


Bake for up to 40 minutes (could be sooner).  If you start to smell cake -or if its starting to shrink from the side of the tin, that's a sign that it could be ready .  Otherwise test with a skewer if you are unsure.   I used a 20 cm ring tin, and daughter Tansy iced it with a delicious icing that included melted chocolate, Dutch cocoa and a dash of cream.

As this was Peter's birthday cake I did use the best ingredients I had - cold pressed sunflower oil, red wine vinegar and Dutch cocoa that I couldn't resist purchasing at the Parnell French market.   The man selling the cocoa advised me to use less oil or butter when baking with the Dutch cocoa because it is so high in cocoa fats compared to what we usually buy here.   So for this recipe I took the oil down to 1/3 cup.

It may have been Peter's birthday but 2 year old Beau also wanted
the birthday moment of blowing out the candle.

• Per capita New Zealanders eat more bananas than any other country 
• Bananas combat depression, make you smarter, cure hangovers, relieve morning sickness, protect against kidney cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and blindness 
• Rub the inside part of a banana skin on a mosquito bite and it is said to relieve an itch (I'm going to try that!)
• Inside banana skin can also be used to put a great shine on your shoes 
• Bananas help overcome depression due high levels of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin - the happy-mood brain neurotransmitter

25 Powerful reasons to eat bananas

  

I never knew that bananas could lift your spirits.

By buying bananas grown without exploitation of the environment or the people growing them, then you will feel doubly good.

I've decided that I will pay the extra and buy All Good Bananas from now on - even if it means a few less bananas - quality not quantity.

All Good Bananas have 4% of the domestic market share.  Remember, their website lists who stocks them.

Go on... find yourself a proper 'nana!