Fruit For Crumble

Our answer

Nigella's Strawberry And Almond Crumble (from KITCHEN) is a perfect way to use slightly unripe strawberries. The fruits soften and their flavour intensifies in the warmth of the oven. Nigella's Jumbleberry Crumble is another fruit crumble, but uses frozen berries for ease.

It is possible to make crumbles with other seasonal fruits, such as plums. However plums have tougher skins so take longer to cook than strawberries, particularly if they are very hard. The plums also need to be pitted and quartered before cooking. We would suggest that the plums are first cooked briefly in a large, shallow saucepan or frying pan (with a lid) with a tablespoon (15g) of unsalted butter. Melt the butter and add the plums, then cover and cook over a medium heat for 4-10 minutes, checking every 2-3 minutes, until the plums have softened slightly and released some juices. The cooking time will depend on the ripeness of the plums. Spoon the plums into the pie dish, add the sugar and ground almonds (almond meal) and taste to see if you need to add a little more sugar. Top with the almond crumble and bake as instructed in the recipe.