The Crisp Confluence

You know how sometimes you have a Thought, and then you wander out into the Hinternet with the Thought in your head and then, lo and behold, that Thought is given Life somewhere?  Well, it happened to me this week.  The Beloved and I went to the farmer’s market on Sunday and purchased the largest piece of rhubarb we had ever seen.  I wish I had taken a picture of it to show you guys, but you know how I don’t Plan and then I can’t find the camera or it is Upstairs when I am Downstairs so it is too far away to slog up the 16 steps to Fetch.

So, anyway, once we found the Mondo Rhubarb, we went in search of warm, fresh North Carolina strawberries.  Because what is better, honestly, than the stands-the-test-of-time pairing of tart rhubarb and sweet strawberry?  We found some lovely strawberries and took them home.  I asked The Beloved what we should do with our Bounty.  He said he would enjoy a Crisp with oatmeal in the streusel, so I said, “sure,” because I am nothing if not Accommodating.  So then, I wandered over to [No Recipes], as I do at least a few times a week, to see what Marc was cooking up.  And guess what?  Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp!  One cannot ignore such confluence as Mere Coincidence, so I read his post Very Carefully to see what Goodness he had cooked up.  I mean specifically.  The thing about Marc, if you don’t already know, is that he always gives everything he makes a Marc Twist, not to be confused with Mark Twain.  His point, I believe, is to experiment and play and make us think about food as more of a blank canvas as opposed to a paint by numbers board.

So, the twist du jour was the addition of some Parmesan cheese to the streusel.  Genius.  It’s a little salty; it’s a little nutty, and it will distribute more or less evenly in a topping, as opposed to nuggets of nuts, which don’t.   So, I took that idea and added it to the Idea Stew that was already simmering in my little brain.  Here was my thinking:

What’s better with strawberries than balsamic vinegar?  Nothing.  Okay, then what will go with strawberries and vinegar?  Well, let’s see.  Basil sounds nice–green and peppery.  I’ll heighten the pepperiness by adding some pepper.  And with cheese in the topping, I’ll have a nice balance of sweet and savory notes.  Yay.

And, friends, let me tell you, this little guy worked out so well that I will surely make it again.  And maybe even again.  It was sweet and tart and a little savory.  It smelled amazing in the oven.  It tasted amazing in my face.  In short, I was Pleased with the Results.   So was The Beloved.  I will say that, since it contained a lot of savory ingredients, it was pretty rich, so I decided to whip up a Creamy Sweet Topping to offset the dense savoriness of it all.

I didn’t measure any of the strawberry-rhubarb portion of the activity, but I did weigh the streusel ingredients.  And here’s how it went.

Oh, things to note:  I do not like big hunks of rhubarb, so I prefer to stew the rhubarb down into Thick Jammy Goodness and then fold in strawberries.  That’s where the juice comes in.  It’s just what I had in the fridge.  Use what you want.  If you don’t mind big pieces of rhubarb, skip the stewing.  Also, any measurements I’ve given are Approximations.  Just go with it and make it to taste.  It’s basically just sweetened fruit with some crunchy stuff on top, so approach with Confidence.

Sweet and Savory Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp, with a big Thank You to Marc for the Parmesan Idea

For the strawberry rhubarb portion

1 1/2-ish cups diced rhubarb
sugar or other sweetener, to taste
about 1/4 cup cranberry pomegranate juice (100% juice kind)
healthy pinch of salt
several grinds of black pepper
about 2 TBSP chiffonade basil
1 TBSP white balsamic vinegar (just because I didn’t want the color to get brown-ish)

Throw all of the above ingredients into a saucepan.

Bring to a boil, and then simmer, stirring and smooshing the rhubarb when it gets soft.  Simmer and smoosh until you end up with Thick Jammy Goodness.

1 pint lovely strawberries, big guys quartered; smaller guys halved
about 2 TBSP flour
some sugar, to taste
wee pinch of salt
about 1 TBSP white balsamic

Place the lovely strawberries in a baking dish.  Sprinkle on some sugar and flour, and toss everything lightly.  Drizzle the balsamic over the strawberries.

Spread the rhubarb jammy part on top of the strawberries.

For the Streusel portion

3 oz. butter
3 oz. all purpose flour
1.5 oz. oatmeal
4 oz. brown sugar
healthy pinch of salt
1 oz. Parmesan cheese (okay, I used the green can kind, because that’s what I had)
a couple of grinds of black pepper

Smush up all the ingredients into a big ball of streusel.  You see, I believe that if you don’t smush it all up into a ball, you end up with Parts of the streusel that are still floury, and floury doesn’t get Crispy in the oven.  It just gets Hot.  So, mix and mix until you have a big Pla-Doh ball of streusel, and then pull off bits of it to sprinkle all over the rhubarb jam part.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until it’s all Bubbly and Delightful and the streusel is Deep Golden Brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool until warm-ish.  Serve with your choice of Creamy Topping.  Here’s the one I made:

The Creamy Topping I Made

1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
brown sugar, to taste

Stir and stir.  Let sit in the fridge until the sugar has dissolved.  Stir and stir before Dolloping Attractively on the warm crisp.

So, guess what?  I’m entering this in the Royal Foodie Joust sponsored by the wonderful Jenn at The Left-Over Queen.  Feel like participating yourself?  Go check out the Royal Foodie Joust Thread on her forum!