Serves 4
• 750g sweet cherries
• 4 Tbsp water
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• Juice of half a lemon
• Cream, to serve
For the almond crumble:
• 120g plain flour
• 85g butter, cut into cubes
• 4 Tbsp golden caster sugar
• 4 Tbsp ground almonds
• 1 Tbsp flaked almonds
1. Set the oven at 180°C. Rinse, stalk and stone the cherries, then put them in a pan with the water and sugar. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Put the cornflour in a small cup or bowl and stir in 2 Tbsp of the juice from the simmering cherries. When the cornflour has dissolved, stir the mixture into the hot cherries. As soon as the syrup starts to thicken a little, remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and transfer to a baking dish.
3. Whiz the flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine fresh breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and ground almonds.
Scatter loosely on top of the fruit, add the flaked almonds and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling under the pale golden crumble. Serve with cream.
The Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater, photographs by Jonathan Lovekin (Fourth Estate London, distributed by Harper Collins, $59.99).
