"This is pretty much your mum's old-fashioned crumble," says McConnell, "but we've added pink peppercorns to give it a delicate and floral heat."
Sean McConnell's rhubarb, strawberry and pink peppercorn crumble with chamomile ice-cream
Recipe for rhubarb, strawberry and pink peppercorn crumble with chamomile ice-cream by Sean McConnell from Monster, Canberra.
- 40 mins preparation
- 1 hr cooking plus chilling, freezing
- Serves 8
Print
Ingredients
- 750 gm rhubarb, diced
- 90 gm honey
- 60 gm brown sugar
- Juice and finely grated rind of 3 lemons
- 750 gm strawberries (about 3 punnets), hulled and halved
- 375 gm caster sugar
- 3 tbsp pink peppercorns, crushed
Chamomile ice-cream
- 500 ml (2 cups) milk
- 200 ml pouring cream
- 20 gm (1 cup) loose-leaf chamomile tea
- 6 egg yolks
- 175 gm caster sugar
Crumble
- 150 gm softened butter
- 150 gm (1 cup) plain flour
- 150 gm almond meal
- 150 gm (1/3 cup) brown sugar
- 75 gm rolled oats
Method
Main
- 1For chamomile ice-cream, bring milk, cream and chamomile tea to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stand to infuse (1 hour). Whisk yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale (4-5 minutes), strain milk mixture over, pressing on solids, and whisk to combine. Return to a clean pan and stir over very low heat until mixture thickly coats the back of a spoon or reaches 87C on a thermometer (5-6 minutes) Transfer to a bowl, whisk occasionally until cool, then chill. Churn in an ice-cream machine and freeze. Makes about 1 litre.
- 2Place rhubarb, honey, brown sugar and lemon juice and rind in a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (8-10 minutes). In a separate pan, stir strawberries and sugar over medium heat until broken down (8-10 minutes), add to rhubarb with 1 tsp sea salt and set aside.
- 3For crumble, beat butter and flour in an electric mixer to combine, then add almond meal, sugar and oats and mix to combine.
- 4Preheat oven to 180C. Spoon rhubarb and strawberry compote into 8 shallow individual ovenproof dishes or a 1.2-litre baking dish, scatter with peppercorns, and top with crumble. Bake until golden and bubbling (15-20 minutes for individual, 25-30 minutes for large). Serve with chamomile ice-cream.
Notes
Drink Suggestion: 2013 Lerida Estate Botrytis Pinot Gris. Drink suggestion by Michael Gray