Rhubarb Crumble & Ginger Custard

by Nathan Outlaw from Nathan Outlaws Home Kitchen (Quadrille)

Photography by David Loftus

Rhubarb is my favourite fruit for crumble, but for this classic pud you need the full flavour of outdoor rhubarb; don’t use the milder tasting, early forced stuff.  I like to add ginger to the custard as well as the fruit and crumble; it’s such a great pairing with this fruit.

Serves 4

For the rhubarb

800g rhubarb, de-stringed (if necessary) and trimmed

100g soft dark brown sugar

50ml stem ginger syrup (from the jar)

For the crumble

100g plain flour

1 tsp sea salt

150g ground almonds

2 tsp ground ginger

100g soft dark brown sugar

100g demerara sugar

100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the ginger custard

250ml double cream

650ml whole milk

60g fresh root ginger, sliced

4 large free-range egg yolks

150g golden caster sugar

2 tsp cornflour

4 balls of preserved stem ginger in syrup, drained and chopped.

Method

Preheat your oven to 165C/Fan150C/Gas 3.

Cut the rhubarb into roughly 3cm chunks and place in a bowl with the brown sugar and ginger syrup.  Toss to combine, then transfer to an ovenproof dish.

To make the crumble, mix the flour, salt, ground almonds, ground ginger and both sugars together in a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles a crumble topping.

Scatter the crumble mix evenly over the rhubarb and bake in the oven for 1¼ hours or until the crumble topping is golden.

Meanwhile, make the ginger custard.  Put the cream, milk and fresh ginger into a pan and bring to the boil.  In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together in a bowl.  When the creamy milk comes to the boil, pour it onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly.  Wipe out the pan and pour the mixture back into it.  Heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens; do not allow to boil.

Pour the custard through a sieve into a clean pan and keep warm.  (Or, if serving later, cover the surface with cling film to stop a skin forming and refrigerate.)

When the rhubarb crumble is ready, remove from the oven and leave to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Add the chopped stem ginger to the custard just before serving and whisk to combine.  Serve the crumble with the ginger custard.

Drinks tasted on air, alongside the dish.