Rhubarb and Raspberry Crumble

Last weekend I made rhubarb and raspberry crumble cooked and served in teacups – an idea I have shamelessly borrowed from the recent Waitrose magazine. It was so much easier to serve like this and it looked quite cute, too; now why hadn’t I thought of this before?

I'll admit I was really nervous about the cups surviving the heat of the oven (I had nightmare visions of all the handles dropping off!) but in the event they were fine. If you decide to do this please ensure your china is oven safe and for goodness sake don’t use the cups from your Granny’s heirloom dinner service! Your nerves might be able to stand the strain but mine wouldn't...

The Waitrose recipe used strawberries but I didn't like the sound of hot strawbs so I substituted rhubarb and raspberries; their sharpness contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the crumble which also had a lovely crunch thanks to a handful of chopped almonds and a few rolled oats. I'm not a huge fan of ice-cream so I served it with pouring cream.

It’s actually given me an idea for Christmas – there’s nothing like planning ahead! Chopped apple, orange zest and mincemeat topped with a nutty cinnamon crumble – whaddya think?

300g rhubarb (weight after being topped and tailed)
a tablespoon of sugar
24 fresh raspberries
100g plain flour
60g butter
50g sugar
30g rolled oats
30g whole almonds

Chop the rhubarb into 4cm chunks and put in a saucepan with the sugar. Put a lid on the pan and simmer on a very low heat for 15 minutes until the rhubarb is softened but still holding its shape.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs then stir in the sugar, oats and the roughly chopped almonds.

Turn the oven on to 180C.

Divide the rhubarb between four teacups and put six raspberries on top. Sprinkle over the crumble mix, put the cups on a rimmed baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden and the juices are starting to bubble through.

Serves 4

Rhubarb and Raspberry Jam

When I went to our local market on Tuesday there seemed to be so many bargains on the veg stall I didn’t quite know where to start. We’ve had such a warm dry spring so some fruits seem to be very early this year; I bought masses of strawberries and raspberries as well as all the usual everyday stuff and we were absolutely loaded down when we came away from the stall.

All the soft fruit I bought has gone into jam-making. The husband put in a special request for strawberry jam (recipe to follow) and I have been hankering after a rhubarb and raspberry jam that I have fond memories of from years ago. I was really chuffed that we finally had enough of our own rhubarb from the garden for this – it makes it seem even more homemade, somehow.

This a lovely soft-set jam that's very fresh tasting because of its short cooking time, really nice on toast or scones.

600g rhubarb, sliced into 1inch chunks

300g raspberries

75ml water**

600g jam sugar (includes pectin)

Put the rhubarb, sugar and water into a wide deep pan or a jam pan if you have one. Bring slowly to the boil to dissolve the sugar and simmer for 15 minutes; add the raspberries and boil for a further 5 minutes. Test for setting by putting a teaspoonful of jam on a cold saucer, leave for 30 seconds and if it wrinkles when you push it with your finger…bingo!! If it doesn’t wrinkle, boil for another 5 minutes and try the cold saucer test again. Pot up whilst still hot into hot sterilised jars.

**I added the water because I wanted a fairly soft-set jam but reduce it, or even leave it out, if you want a stronger set.

Makes 4 medium jars.