Summer, where are you??

March 30, 2009

I picked up a flat of strawberries for an unbelievable price this week at one of my favorite fruit and vegetable markets, Stanley’s, and was inspired to make something that would smell and taste like summer. (For anyone not in Chicago, the weather has been less than desirable this week and then today is snowed 5 inches!?!? So I needed some “summer” food…)

For me nothing could scream more summer than a beautiful, juicy, jeweled fruit crisp. And because I already had one element of the crisp, the strawberries, I had to decide what avenue to take. Strawberry-peach? Strawberry-blueberry? Oh, no….something even better. Two flavors that beautifully balance each other out- bright, juicy, sweet strawberries and crispy, tart and tangy rhubarb. But I wanted to introduce another flavor to help marry these beautiful flavors even more…and what better than fresh ginger?! It is one of my favorite ingredients and in this recipe it adds a brightness to the fruit flavor and lends a push to the flavor of the orange zest.

Now, what is everyone’s favorite part of a crisp? The crust, of course! And the topping for this fruit crisp is as delicious as it is healthy, including whole grains such as oats, wheat germ, whole wheat and flax. In addition to the fiber and lignans from the whole grains and flax, the crust has some omega-3’s and vitamin E from the addition of walnuts. So, enjoy these summer flavors and hopefully the warm weather will be soon to follow!

Ginger Scented Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

INGREDIENTS

Filling

2 cups hulled and halved strawberries
3 cups ½” sliced rhubarb
¾ cup organic cane sugar
3 T. cornstarch
3 T. water
½ orange, zested
2” piece ginger, run over microplane

Topping

¼ cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking)
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup wheat germ
2 T. flaxseed meal (or another 2 T. wheat germ or oats)
½ cup organic brown sugar
1/3 cup crushed walnuts
6 T. chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

DIRECTIONS

Prepare the filling by mixing all filling ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside to rest while preparing the topping.
In another bowl mix together all topping ingredients but butter. Add the butter and using the tines of a fork, smash the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like little pebbles.
Grease a large ceramic pie plate or 9×9 baking dish and pour in the strawberry rhubarb filling. Top with the oat and nut topping and place in a 350 oven for 40-50 minutes. Bake until filling is bubbling and top is brown.