Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Whenever I go to Pearl Oyster Bar in the late spring/early summertime, my meal consists of fried oysters, a lobster roll with shoestring fries and malt vinegar, and strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream. Since I recreated the lobster roll for my dinner party, I figured I could also recreate the strawberry rhubarb crumble in the place of pie. Rhubarb was pretty difficult to find; I initially went to the Union Square Farmer’s Market for some but everyone said it would be another two weeks before it started showing up. I remembered that I’ve seen it at Whole Foods during the wintertime, so I ran over to check – they had about a pound (which was exactly what I needed). The recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the filling:
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 quart strawberries plus a few extras, hulled, quartered
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch (some commenters found the flour option a little too, well, floury so this has been updated)
Pinch of salt

To prepare the filling, clean and cut the rhubarb and strawberries into 1-inch pieces:

Toss in sugar:

Cornstarch:

Lemon juice and a pinch of salt:

Mix everything together and then pour it into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate (I didn’t have one so I just used my brownie pan):

For the topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw)
Zest of one lemon
1/4 pound (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest:

Add the melted butter and mix with your hands until small and large clumps form:

Cover the fruit evenly with the crumble mixture:

Bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes:

Top with vanilla ice cream:

The dessert can also be substituted with all types of fruit (nectarines and raspberries, blueberries, etc). It’s a great last minute dessert and went really well with the lobster rolls. Now I have to figure out how to make Pearl’s fried oysters and tartar sauce so I can have a complete Pearl Oyster Bar meal at home!