Rhubarb and Strawberry Crisp

I have been sick for over a week. Really sick. Like, canceled my clients, stayed in bed, got winded when I crossed the room, eventually needed antibiotics because I have a bronchial infection, sick. For the first four or so days, the only things that sounded good to eat was ramen soup, white rice and mac & cheese. Even when things started to sound better, I was too tired to cook.

Today, I finally had some of my energy back. So, I took a look in the fridge to see what I could find to work with, and found that, sadly, a lot of my CSA box (including the fava beans I was so excited about) had turned not so good. Instead of cooking, I was left with cleaning out the bad food from the fridge. A few things are still good (the potatoes, carrots and zucchini are in fine shape). But a lot had to go. I took a look at the rhubarb and the strawberries and decided that may be salvageable in cooked form. I thought about a pie or a tart, but making crust sounded hard. The easier (and just as tasty) option seemed like a crisp.

Here the ingredients for the filling:

4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
1 pint of strawberries, quartered
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoon flour

I started by chopping by rhubarb and strawberries, cutting off and discarding the parts that were too far gone.

I put the fruit in a bowl, along with the sugar and flour, gave it a good toss and then set it aside while I worked on the topping.


Here the ingredients for the topping:

1 cup slivered almonds, toasted and then cooled
1/2 cup oats
2 Tablespoon flour
2 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoon butter
a pinch of salt

I mashed together all the topping ingredients using my fingers (you could use a fork, but fingers is easier). The nuts were still a little warm, so the butter got a little meltier than I would like, but it worked out okay.

The filling had exuded a bit of liquid (which I expected, that's what happens when you put sugar on berries), so I gave it a final stir and split it between two ramekins.

Then I distributed the topping over the berries.

I put the completed dishes on a small baking pan (in case they bubbled over).

Then popped them into a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. I knew they were ready when the topping was nicely browned and the filling was bubbly and thickened.

How was it? Well, if you are only going to cook one thing all week, this is not a bad way too go. Sweet and tart, and even better with a scoop of vanilla on top. Plus, lucky me, the husband deemed this "too tart" for his tastes. So I get to enjoy it again later. My reward for feeling lousy for days.