Ridiculously-Simple Summer Fruit Crumble

Having a home on a new continent is wonderful for lots of reasons ... my favorite probably being that my passion for cooking and baking is elevated to an entirely new realm. Right now I’m giddy because the first of summer fruit is appearing, and It’s only May.

Most recently, I am blessed to have reconnected with a circle of like-minded souls who are passionate about plant medicine, thanks to the lovely Rosalee de la Foret, with whom I studied rooted medicine three years ago. Our vibrant online community at the moment is sharing recipes, and I wanted to chime in.

One of Rosalee’s recipes is this simple what-she-calls Fruit Crisp, and her rendition is with peaches and blueberries. Here in Cagli the other day, I was lucky to find peaches and cherries at our Wednesday market. With an excellent local sunflower honey (sold me by a very handsome young honey man ;), I whipped this up in a heartbeat on a Sunday morning, and half of it was gone in no time. My sister loved it for breakfast the next day.

Rosalee’s rendition is similar to my simplest version, and my more-intensified version uses everything she does, and adds some extra ingredients to rev it up a bit. It’s the version that I prefer. Go super-simple if you’d like. I can promise you that half the pan is going to disappear quickly, either way ! 

Ridiculously-Simple Summer Fruit Crumble

For the simplest version:

4 cups coarsely cubed/sliced/chopped fresh summer fruit

1 Tbs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

1 cube butter

1/3 cup honey

2 ¼ cups whole oats

¾ cup chopped walnuts

To prepare simplest version:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine fresh fruit and rosemary, spread evenly in square 9” glass pan.

In saucepan, melt butter slowly then add honey, combine well.

Remove from heat, and stir in oats and walnut s.

Spread mixture evenly over fruit in pan.

Bake for about 33 minutes, until top is browned.

Serve as you’d like, with topping of whipped/ice cream, yogurt, etc.

For the more-intensified version, add these ingredients per instructions below:

Zest and juice of one fresh orange

2 Tbs flour

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground cardamom

To prepare the more-intensified version (use both ingredient lists!):

Preheat oven to 350F.

In medium saucepan, combine fruit, rosemary, fresh zest and juice.

Gently mix flour, brown sugar, and spices and combine mixture with fruit.

Over low heat, cook mixture only until fruit is warmed through and a glaze begins to form.

Remove from heat and transfer mixture to square 9” glass pan, spreading evenly.

Use same saucepan if you wish, and melt (1 cube) butter over low flame.

Stir (1/3 cup) honey with melted butter, combine well.

Remove from heat, stir in (2 ¼ cups) oats and (3/4 cup) walnuts.

Bake for about 33 minutes, until top is browned.

Serve as you’d like, with topping of whipped/ice cream, yogurt, etc.

Both versions yield about 6-8 servings or, just 2-4 servings if you’re greedy like me.