Anna Gare's Pear & Rhubarb Crumble

Anna Gare has spent 25 years in the food world, and is best known as a judge on Junior Masterchef and the presenter of The Great Australian Bake-Off. Her range of retro kitchen and cookware is available in today's sale event and, thanks to eatlove.com.au, we're sharing her recipe for Pear & Rhubarb Crumble, from her book Eat In (published by Murdoch Books). 

My friend Tansy inspired this recipe. She is an excellent home cook and the only dessert she ever makes is rhubarb crumble. There's something homely and humble about a sweet and tart crumble.

Ingredients (serves 6)
Crumble filling
50 g (13⁄4 oz) unsalted butter
165 g (53⁄4 oz/3⁄4 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
600 g (1 lb 5 oz) trimmed rhubarb (about 2 bunches), washed and cut into 3 cm (11⁄4 inch) pieces (see Note)
6 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 6 wedges each (see Note)
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 a vanilla bean, halved lengthways, seeds scraped
185 ml (6 fl oz/3⁄4 cup) white wine (or verjuice for a non-alcoholic version)
vanilla-bean ice cream, to serve

Crumble topping
150 g (51⁄2 oz) cold unsalted butter, finely diced
110 g (33⁄4 oz/1⁄2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
150 g (51⁄2 oz/1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
100 g (31⁄2 oz/1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
30 g (1 oz) flaked almonds

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).

To make the crumble filling:

Heat the butter and sugar in a wide heavy-based saucepan over medium heat until melted and the mixture just starts to bubble together and caramelise. Add the fruit, cinnamon and vanilla bean and seeds to the saucepan, stir to combine and cook over low heat for a few minutes. Add the wine and cook for 5 minutes, or until the fruit is half cooked. Pour into a 30 x 20 cm (12 x 8 inch), 2.5 litre (87 fl oz/10 cup) capacity baking dish.

To make the crumble topping:

Rub the butter, sugar and flour together in a bowl with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a crumble consistency. Stir in the almond meal and flaked almonds until combined.

To assemble and cook the crumble:

Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crumble is golden on top.

Serve hot with a scoop of good-quality vanilla-bean ice cream.

Note: You can use whatever fruit is in season for this. Softer fruit needs less pre-cooking time and requires less wine as it will not reduce as much.

Find more of Anna's recipes at eatlove.com.au