Spring
Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble with Sesame Streusel
- Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes
What is it that drives me so nuts about tahini?
It could be the nutty smoothness, the slight bitterness, and the sheer richness of the sesame taste, but I think thosw qualities are married to a sense of conquered distaste. When I was a kid, my mother would sometimes try to pass halvah off as a dessert. The refrigerated sesame fudge was a false treat: granular, too thick, and nutty without being truly nutty. It in no way delivered the deliciousness (read sweetness) of a scoop of chocolate ice cream or even a bowl of half melted frozen raspberries in syrup.
But like so many things that tasted weird, or too strong as a kid (mushrooms, buckwheat, cows tongue, blue cheese), that sesame flavor from long-ago halvah is now one of my favorites. I have since had really good halvah—made with spun sugar and light as air, almost as sweet as cotton candy. Now I will admit to being something of a tahini junkie. I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere along the way, I just started wondering if I could add tahini to just about everything. Sandwiches, salad dressings, granola, you name it. Michael Solomonov and his Zahav cookbook haven't helped the situation.
And so when that first cobbler urge struck me this late winter (it happens whenever rhubarb first appears in the groceries, I once again turned to tahini. Just to make sure I hammered home the sesame point, I added an un-shy amount of sesame seeds to make a rich cookie-ish crust for the sour-sweet fruit filling.
—Sara Dickerman
Ingredients
- The Streusel
-
10 tablespoons
oat flour
-
10 tablespoons
sugar
-
1/2 teaspoon
cinnamon
-
1/4 cup
sesame seeds
-
1/2 teaspoon
sea salt
-
3 ounces
butter, cut into small pieces and frozen
-
2 ounces
tahini, spread thin on a piece of parchment and frozen
-
10 tablespoons
rolled oats
- The Crumble
-
2
apples, large, peeled, cored and cut into ¾ inch pieces
-
1 pound
rhubarb , cut into ¾ inch pieces
-
1 pound
strawberries, hulled, quartered
-
1
tangerine, zest and juice only
-
1/2 cup
brown sugar
-
2 tablespoons
butter, cut into small pieces
-
2 tablespoons
minute tapioca, or the thickener of your choice
-
ice cream or soft whipped cream, to serve
Directions
- The Streusel
- In a food processor, pulse together the oat flour, sugar, cinnamon, sesame seeds and sea salt. add in the frozen butter and peel the tahini off the parchment and break it in pieces into the processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal, not worrying if some of the butter lumps are bigger than that. Pulse in the oats, trying not to cut them up too small. Chill or freeze until use. (you can do this a couple of days ahead).
- The Crumble
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- In a large baking dish (like a 9” X 13” Pyrex), toss together the apples, rhubarb, strawberries, tangerine zest and juice brown sugar and butter. Roast for about 25 minutes until the juices are very runny and the fruit softened and, ideally, a little browned on top.
- Scoop out about ¼ cup of the liquid and mix with the tapioca. Stir the tapioca slurry back into the fruit and transfer the fruit mixture to a 6 to 8 cup baking dish or non-reactive, oven proof skillet. Working quickly, pile on the streusel and pack evenly across the top of the fruit. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Turn oven down to 375 F and bake until the liquids are thick and bubbly and the top of the streusel is richly browned, about 30 more minutes. You may want to put a silpat lined baking sheet below the cobbler dish to keep any drips from scorching on the bottom of your oven.
- Serve warm, with ice cream or soft whipped cream.
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