Rhubarb and apple pie with crumble topping

Babiche Martens

I love the generous crunchy topping on the fruit crumble, which is bursting with wintery flavours. I have used rhubarb and apple, plus you can add a few frozen raspberries or some of those home preserves you made at the end of summer. I often throw in feijoas with the apples for a taste sensation. Remember, when using pastry as the base it is imperative that you bake it blind or it will be soggy.

Pastry

150 g	Flour
2 Tbsp	Sugar
3 Tbsp	Water, cold
90 g	Butter

Filling

4	Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (Main)
4 stalks	Rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces (Main)
⅓ cup	Water
¼ cup	Sugar
½	Oranges, zest of

Topping

½ cup	Flour
1 cup	Rolled oats, large
¼ cup	Sunflower seeds
¼ cup	Mixed nuts, I used almonds and cashews
½ tsp	Cinnamon
60 g	Butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 180C.
2. To make pastry, place flour, sugar and butter into a food processor. Blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add water and blitz until it starts to form a ball. Place on floured bench.
3. Roll pastry to fit a 24cm x 3cm deep pie dish. Press carefully into dish, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake blind in oven for 20 minutes. Remove and add filling and topping.
4. To make filling, place apple, rhubarb and water in a medium-sized pot. Cover and bring to a simmer for 8 minutes until fruit has softened but not lost its shape. Add sugar and zest and stir through. Spoon into pastry case.
5. To make topping, place flour, oats, seeds, nuts and cinnamon in a bowl. Add melted butter and stir through. Spread on top of apple and rhubarb mixture, piling it up to create a crunchy topping.
6. Place into oven for 20-30 minutes until golden. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream.