A journalist friend (yes, they do exist, in fact many of them…but for some reason none in the Daily Mail!😉) has asked me to bake a Brexit crumble. This particular recipe comes from the wonderful Nigella Lawson and calls for almonds and vanilla, but over the years we have cut down on the sugar, replaced the vanilla with lemon zest and the almond with hazelnuts (only because a year ago I went through a time when I compulsively added hazelnuts to almost everything - they are particularly good with mackerel and orange I must say) The crumble, just like Brexit, seems fine on the outside, though if you look attentively you can see that there is a mess bubbling up inside. And it will definitely fall apart when you serve it no matter how hard you try. Though to be perfectly honest, I am not sure the messiest of the crumbles does any justice to the mess we are all in.
You need:
- 300 g strawberries
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g hazelnuts (ground 30 g thinly and the remaining 70 g coarsely)
- 110 g plain flour
- zest of a lemon
- 75 gr cold butter
- a tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees
Cut the strawberries in half. Put them on a baking dish (you can also bake this in individual dishes) Sprinkle them with 30 g of sugar, the 30 g of thinly ground hazelnuts and the lemon zest.
Separately mix the flour and baking powder with the cold butter (diced). Rub the butter with your fingers for 5 minutes. The add the remaining sugar and Hazelnuts. Tip this on top of the strawberries. Bake for 30 minutes (22 minutes if you bake this in individual dishes)
