Plum and Apple Crumble

Plums are in season here, and the windfall apples are ripe enough to cook with.  A quick and easy desert with the two fruits and a crisp topping.

These quantities make a moderate desert for four or enough for two very hungry people


Ingredients

100g flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20%cornmeal)
50g butter
25g ground almonds (optional)
30g brown sugar
water

Rub butter into flour
Stir in almonds and sugar.  Add water a little at a time until the mixture begins to clump.


Place prepared fruit into a suitable dish.  Add sugar to taste.  Stir in a little cornflour if you have juicy fruit and you want a thicker syrup than the one I have in the photo.

Arrange the topping on the fruit and bake in a medium oven (about 170C fan) for 35 minutes.  If the topping gets brown before the time is up lower the heat and keep cooking to ensure that the crumble is cooked.

Apple Crumble

The Bramley Apple tree is beginning to drop apples that are just ripe enough to use in cooking -they are only half the size the fully mature ones will be but it seems a shame to waste them.  I peeled, cored and sliced them, cooked them until soft with some pear juice, cinnamon, mixed spice and brown sugar.  I put a crumble topping on them and baked until golden - a bit of an autumn desert on a hot day when the pool is at 26C!

Crumble Ingredients
100g flour
50g butter
50g sugar
30ml water (adjust to suit your flour/weather)

Rub the butter into the flour by hand or whizz in a food processor
Stir in sugar.
If the mixture forms small clumps when you press it lightly you may not need to add water.  Otherwise add a little water and mix so that the dough tends to clump.  I find this gives a crunchier topping than if you sprinkle a dusty mixture on top of the fruit.

You can mix in spice or flaked almonds to vary this mixture.  If you make too much just keep in a bag in the freezer and use when you need it, or make cookies.  This amount gave a topping in a  dish 7cm by 22cm - four modest portions or two for hungry people.

Wetherspoon's gluten free menu

Pleased to report that no ill-effects from eating at Wetherspoons

I tried writing text and taking a photo in other apps on this phone. I found blogger and even got into the correct part, but don't seem to be able to import either text or photos. Posting this anyways as part of my learning and will amend when I get to my computer.

back home....

I am about to eat at a Wetherspoon's cafe in Worcester.  We read that they provided gluten free meals, and even listed everything clearly on their menu.  I am a little surprised their roasted veg isn't gf, but even more surprised that the only fruit crumble they serve is gf, and isn't more expensive than the other deserts.

They also give information about how to eat vegan, vegetarian and low fat meals.

I ordered the curry, saying I needed people to not even touch my plate if they had been touching bread.  Rather than the usual blank look the waiter said he would make a note.  I asked about the poppadoms (you get offered more as a substitute for the nan), saying last time I ate these in a restaurant it turned out they had wheat in, and I was ill for four days.  He went and checked, coming back swiftly to say the packet said gluten free.  I did wonder if they would fry them in general purpose oil but they were grilled.

The meal was fine, your standard neutered English curry but with enough spice to be clearly a curry rather than a stew.

Tolerant Taster had steak pie and chips and beer, which he said was very good.

The staff were courteous, the meal prompt, and two full meals with a drink and one desert was only about fifteen pounds.

The crumble had an odd chewy, granular structure.  It was a substantial dessert, but neither the texture nor the flavour were particularly enticing.

Tolerant Taster’s view:

Looks the part and crumble is certainly the right word in that the topping has no coherence at all.  It simple falls apart as your spoon hits it.  It crumbles to a sort of granular structure with a particle size between 2 & 8mm.  Some particles are harder, slightly chewy, suggesting that they got a bit more sugar that glued them together.  A little too sweet, so that there is little contrast between the apple underneath and the topping.

I now just have to wait and see if it is actually gluten free.  If is is it will make managing to feed myself when out in strange cities a lot easier. I would say full marks for making an effort.  The food reminded me of service station food from back in the days when I ate it…certainly a great improvement on having to go hungry or just eat the plain crisps.