Yup, it’s time to crumble again! This time: a crumble cake, my very favourite way to use up summer fruit that’s going a bit wrinkly and soggy.
As you may know by now, I’m a cinnamon addict. There are really so many heavenly fruit/cinnamon combinations out there, but one truly unbeaten pairing is cinnamon with peaches and – wait for it – Amaretto! Yes, wack out the booze, soack your fruit in it and top it all with really buttery cinnamon crumble. Oh, and let’s not forget the base: a lovely pound cake sponge. Yum.
This is such a simple, yet impressive recipe. All you need is a bit of time to let the fruit soak up the alcohol, so that they take on that lovely marzipaney Amaretto flavour. Once that’s done it’s just a matter of throwing together two types of super simple doughs (your sponge base and crumble topping) and let your oven do the rest. Simple, brilliant, yummy and jaw-dropping. Just the way I like it!
In this post, I’d like to welcome three new members to my family… my prop family that is! Three rough and worn wooden boards have moved in with me, and I simply can’t get enough of them as backdrop for food photos. They’re just magical. I’ve used them in their pure and rough state so far, but I bought some sand paper to sand the back of them in order to paint them in new colours (so that I can alterate backdrops). Exciting times.
A big thanks goes out to the lovely guys from my local coffee shop, Vagabond, who sponsored these boards. They were in fact leftovers from their wooden tables that they crafted themselves, and with a simple question “oh, can I have them?”, I ended up carrying these three marvellous boards home. Really great: they get rid of their overmatter, I get hold of what I’ve been searching for for months… Yay!
This recipe uses cashew nuts as a texture and flavour enhancer, but you could easily use hazelnuts or almonds instead. I also added a handful of basil, which adds a bit of summery freshness. Again, you could use olives instead, sundried tomatoes, pesto or toasted cumin seeds. There are so many variations to play with, just go wild and experiment!
This salad seems like quite a mad invention, and it is. I went food shopping without anything particular in mind, bought a melon, blueberries, basil for pasta, chili for stir fries and limes for cocktails. But then the next morning when I looked into the fridge I saw all these unconnected items and though ‘hey, you guys seem like a good fit, come on, let’s give it a go.” And so I ended up with a fiery fruit salad, with a herby dimension. It really works, believe me.
