Succulent Spring Rhubarb Crumble

This year I decided to have a go at forcing some of the rhubarb so I shoved an upturned black bucket over the top of one of the plants just as the first shoots started coming through. It has worked wonders and already this year we have had two harvests of the sweetest young stalks, and it's only the 10th March!

I know I could have tried any number of recipes for these first tasty treats but thought I'd go with the old faithful, rhubarb crumble. So here's my recipe for Succulent Spring Rhubarb Crumble:

Rhubarb Crumble
Makes 4 generous helpings

ingredients
12 oz fresh forced rhubarb, picked less than an hour before you're ready to eat;
4 oz butter;
4 oz castor sugar;
8 oz plain flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger (optional)

method


Stick the oven on.

Wash and cut the freshly harvested, sweetest forced rhubarb roughly into chunks. Bung it in a pan with 1 tbsp of water and gently stew, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is softened. No need to add any sugar; the rhubarb is sweet enough. The water is just there to stop it sticking but you do need to keep stirring it.

To make the crumble topping, mix the sugar, flour, butter and, if using, ground ginger, in a large bowl. Rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.


Place the stewed rhubarb in the bottom of an ovenproof dish and cover with the crumble mix. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top to give it a nice crispy topping and bake in a medium oven for approximately half an hour until the top is nicely browned.

Serve with cream, ice-cream or, in my case, custard.

Ideal to round off a Mothers' day meal.