Greetings from New York City!! I have recently moved to Brooklyn, New York for the summer to start an internship. For the next three months I will be working with a company that builds and maintains urban farms all over the five boroughs of New York. It feels great to get some dirt under my fingernails again after a whole year away from farming! Luckily, I found an amazing farmer’s market near my apartment. Every Saturday I can drop off my compost and shop for fresh organic produce from local farmers. Hurray!

My first loot included strawberries and rhubarb. These fruits scream summer to me, so I knew I had to kick off my summer series with a bright strawberry rhubarb crisp.

I’m still getting used to my new kitchen and the lighting in my apartment, so I apologize for the pictures.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

The first step is to remove the stems and quarter the strawberries.

Next, trim the ends and thinly slice the rhubarb. Try to use the brightest red rhubarb you can find. Rhubarb leaves are actually poisonous, but the stems are edible and have a lovely tart flavor.

Stir in a quarter cup of sugar. I use raw turbinado sugar. It is less processed than common granulated sugar and usually maintains more vitamins and minerals from the sugar cane plant.

Stir the fruit and sugar mixture and set aside. To create the crisp, combine equal parts sugar, rolled oats, and flour. Again, I use unbleached flour because I try to reduce the amount of steps it takes to process all my ingredients.

Next, break up a stick of butter into the mixture and pinch with your fingers until the mixture is made up of loose, small chunks.

The traditional cooking method is to bake the whole crisp in a large baking dish. However, for the summer I am staying in an Airbnb and am left with less than ideal cooking equipment. I do have some oven safe bowls, so I divided the fruit mixture between the two, topped them with the crumble mixture and set them on a cookie sheet to bake.

The crisp topping will shrink a little as it bakes, so add more to the top than you would expect.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the fruit is bubbling and the crumble is golden brown and crispy. As you can see, my fruit was so bubbly that it spilled over the edges. Some would see that as a misstep, but hey! I think it looks kind of pretty. Eat warm or cool and serve at room temperature.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Serves: 4

Level: Easy

Ingredients: 

For the filling: 

2 cups strawberries, quartered

2 cups rhubarb, thinly sliced

1/4 cup of raw turbinado sugar

For the topping:

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the fruit and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside.

Combine the flour, oats and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter in small chunks and incorporate with your fingers until the mixture is slightly sticky but crumbly.

Divide the fruit mixture into two oven safe bowls or one large baking dish. Top with the raw crisp mixture and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. The fruit should be bubbly and the topping golden brown and crispy. Enjoy!