**Warning: The first part of this post has absolutely nothing to do with food. Instead, it is me demonstrating my excitement about this upcoming weekend. Also, I apologize ahead of time for this post being so unusually long.**
Hope everyone is doing well and staying out of the heat. We aren't really having true hot weather (I think summer forgot about Portland), but it has been a little muggy and because we don't have air conditioning in our house, even just a little heat outside makes us pretty toasty inside. We are, however, hoping for some actual summer weather this weekend, as Andrew and I are going camping with some friends at one of our favorite spots near Mt. Hood, called Timothy Lake. We have taken my sisters and my dad there in the past and it is really, really beautiful and peaceful. However, the water is really cold (as it's snow melt from the mountain) and it needs to be quite warm outside for it to be bearable to swim. Andrew and I have our "boat" that we are taking with us (its a blow-up boat, but a boat nonetheless) and we can't wait to relax out on the water and eat some good camp food! This is a picture of the lake from one of our past camping trips:
We are actually going to be in a campground called Little Crater Lake, which is a short hike to Timothy Lake. Little Crater Lake is nice to look at for, oh, about 5 minutes, but it is pretty cool how blue the water is. Nothing like the real Crater Lake though, which is ah-mazing. Almost as crazy as the Grand Canyon. Here's Little Crater lake:
Okay, back to food. Within the past couple of months, I have gone a little crumble crazy. Not that long ago I posted this recipe about a Strawberry Pineapple Crumble and since that time, I have been busy trying a couple of different fruit combinations and toppings to see which I like best. I heart fruity summer desserts and I honestly can't decide which I liked best.
This first recipe is for a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble from Smitten Kitchen. Before this, I had only eaten rhubarb one other time in my life and on that occasion, it was served to me. Rhubarb really looks like giant red celery and it seems so weird to me that it is a "dessert" food. But, my oh my is it tasty. The topping on this one was super sweet, almost like the crumble topping on coffee cake. I don't know if there was supposed to so much juice after it baked (see the picture below), but it still tasted good. Here's the recipe and some pics of the finished product:
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
Yields 6 to 8 servings.
For the topping:
1 1/3 cup flour
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
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
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars and lemon zest and add the melted butter. Mix until small and large clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and a pinch of salt in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. (I used an oval dish this time, because they fit better in the bottom of a shopping bag.)
3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a (foil-lined, if you really want to think ahead) baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes.
The second crumble recipe is for a Peach Raspberry Crumble from Joy the Baker. This one really screams "summer" to me, probably because I associate peaches with all of the summers I spent with my family in Georgia. Anyway, the topping on this one was almost in between that of the Strawberry-Pineapple and the Strawberry Rhubarb. It wasn't too sweet and because of the oats, it seemed to have a little more substance to it. I made this twice within 2 weeks. Once for just Andrew and myself and another time for a 4th of July party. It went over really well. Here it is:
Peach and Raspberry Crumble
(makes 1 8×8-inch square baking dish)
Ingredients:
5-6 medium ripe peaches, sliced
1 cup fresh raspberries (if using frozen, just thaw and drain)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
Directions:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place sliced peaches and raspberries in a square 8×8-inch baking dish and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, oats, spices, and salt. Add the butter and toss the mixture together with your hands. Break the butter up into the flour mixture until the butter is the size of small pebbles and oat flakes.
Toss a generous handful (about 1 cup) of crumble topping into the peach and raspberry mixture. Toss loosely with your hands. Spread fruit evenly in the pan and top with the remaining crumble mixture. Bake until fruit is juicy and bubbling, and the top of the crumble is slightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve with vanilla ice cream. Crumble is delicious served warm and can be stored, covered, in the fridge and reheated in the oven or microwave for serving.
Have you guys made any delicious desserts this summer? Or, have you taken any fun camping trips or other vacations? I would love to hear about them!
