About three weeks ago, I enrolled in a organic produce delivery service called Full Circle. There was a deal on living social a couple months ago and it perked my interest. I bought one week free worth of produce for 1-2 people (the seed size box). Without knowing that I could customize my items, I received various foods that I don't usually eat.
My first box contained broccoli, green beans, sweet corn, arugula, gala apples and flavor queen pluots. I opened my box and saw that my arugula was wilted, which I later found that if you are not satisfied with any of your items, they will simply give you a credit on your next purchase. As I looked around the box, I found 3 plouts.... what are these things??? The first time I bit into one, it was overripe and it was a unpleasing mushy taste. I instantly gagged a little and gave up on trying to eat the rest.
Since I didn't want to throw out the rest of my fruit, I did a little research and found that they are a cross between a plum and a apricot. On my next box, I received three more pluots and I decided that I was going to make a end of the summer crisp with the blackberries I had picked just a couple weeks before. I have found that making crisp is the easiest and simplest way to make a delicious dessert for family and friends. The best part of crisp is if you serve them warm with vanilla ice cream, you don't have to worry about having any leftovers. The filling consists of three main things: sugar, cornstarch and frozen or fresh fruit. You can add lemon juice for a little acidity but it all depends on the fruit and the flavors you want to bring out.
The fruit filling I made, I used what I had:
- 5 pluots, sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1. Toss all together. Put into a oven safe baking dish and sprinkle topping.
2. Bake at 350 degrees or 325 in a convection oven. The crisp will be done when the topping is golden brown and the fruit is starting to bubble around the sides of the dish.
For the topping, it is quite simple as well. Generally, you will need butter, flour and sugar (white or brown, personally I prefer brown sugar for flavor). You can also add oatmeal, nuts (like almonds, walnuts or pecans), spices (such as nutmeg, cinnamon), or herbs (like thyme or lavender to give your topping more flavor).
My search for a recipe for a pluot crisp directed me to this recipe from someone else's blog: gimmesomeoven.com. I found the recipe to be very simple, fast and yummy.
The crisp topping recipe:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter, diced
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly add the butter and mix until the mixture becomes clumpy.
2. Spread over fruit filling before you are ready to bake.
Some alternatives for future use, you can use this topping on top of pies or just bake the topping on a sheet pan and sprinkle on a dessert or ice cream to give crunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment