Sour Cherry (or Plum) and Rhubarb Crumble (gluten-free or not)/ Farmshare Cooking weeks 6 and 7

Once again I have been too busy working to spend a lot time experimenting with food. My farmshare has been arriving every week to save me from the diet of take-out that overworked New Yorkers use as their default. I can’t stand letting food go to waste, so my diet has been full of fruits and vegetables, even though I’ve been stressed. I’ve mostly been eating soup, salad, that easy salmon dish I posted a couple of weeks ago and this delicious stone fruit and rhubarb crumble.

This was my first time cooking with sour cherries. My sour cherry experience is limited to the summer when I was 15 years old. I was supposed to be staying with my biological father in Vancouver, but spent most of my time at the house of my best friend. My friend’s mother actually worked several hours away and lived close to work for most of the week. So my friend had to be extremely self sufficient and take care of herself. From the perspective of two teenage girls it was an ideal situation. Before you start to get nervous about where this story is going, you should know that we were very well behaved. Case in point; I do not have any stories about us binge drinking or doing drugs. However, I do recall us eating an entire sour cherry pie every day for about a week. There was a cherry tree in her yard and her landlord was a good and generous baker. I personally do not recall eating anything but cherry pie and coffee for that week. My friend was a bit wiser than I, and I think she ate some tofu dogs as well. It was a valuable life lesson. Do not eat nothing but cherry pie (no matter how delicious) and coffee for a week. Even a 15 year old body cannot endure that sort of abuse without consequences, which I will not go into detail about here. Suffice it to say that I have steered totally clear of sour cherries for the last 25 years.

Luckily, my farmshare only gave me a modest amount of sour cherries. They are so delicious to me that I am still not sure that I would be able to control myself if faced with an entire tree worth of them. If I had to choose one of the seven sins that I struggle with it would be gluttony for sure.

This crumble was so stupidly easy to make that I made it again with plums the next week. The only time consuming bit was pitting the stone fruit. The result is delicious and comforting.

FARMSHARE COOKING WEEK 6

Swiss chard and garlic- Sauteed and eaten with Poached Eggs and Homemade Mayonnaise
Butter lettuce, cucumber and shell peas- Made into salad with Cashew Dill Lemon Dressing
Snap peas- Used in Healthy Ramen with Homemade Rice Noodles.
Raspberries- Eaten with hazelnuts and dry figs on top of whole grain gluten free cereal
Sour cherries- Made into Sour Cherry and Rhubarb Crumble (recipe below)

FARMSHARE COOKING WEEK 7

Onions- Sauteed with eggs
Hakurei Turnips- Made into Slow Roasted Salmon with Turnips, Parsley and Lemon
Green Beans- Made into Crunchy and Colourful Green Bean Salad
Cucumbers- Eaten on top of salads with Cashew Dill Lemon Dressing
Carrots- Made into Roasted Spiced Carrots with Tahini Lemon Sauce
Plums- Made into plum and rhubarb Crumble (recipe below)

SOUR CHERRY (OR PLUM) AND RHUBARB CRUMBLE

*If you are not gluten free just use 3 Tablespoon regular flour in place of the brown rice flour and tapioca starch.

1 cup sour cherries or small plums, pitted
2 cups rhubarb
1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sour your stone fruit is and also how sweet you like your desserts)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon kirsch (grand marnier if using plums)
2 Tablespoons brown rice flour *
1 Tablespoon tapioca starch*
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (pecans or almonds would work just as well)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teasspoon ground cardamom (substitute 1/2 tsp ginger if using plums)
3 Tablespoons butter
a pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine rhubarb, cherries, sugar, cornstarch, and kirsch in a large bowl, and toss to coat. Pour the fruit mixture into an 8×8 square pan. I used two 4×8 pans,
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, cardamom, and salt. Using your hands, work the butter into the oat mixture until the crumble will hold together when squeezed.. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit.
Bake until the filling it hot and bubbling and the topping is crisp and golden brown (30-40 minutes). Serve warm. Vanilla ice cream would be nice if you’ve got it.

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