Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

This is looong overdue and I apologise. Life just has a habit of getting in the way...

I promised you a recipe for rhubarb crumble and here it is, but first let me give you a quick bit of background.

I've always hated rhubarb. I have a horrible sweet tooth, so the tartness of rhubarb really isn't something I enjoy. My mum and grandma, however, love the stuff, so I've cooked it up for them for a long while.
Gran's next door neighbour has a green thumb and for as long as I can remember he's grown rhubarb - and shared it with Gran (isn't he lovely).

I've never grown it myself and don't have any idea how to harvest rhubarb, but Diane loves it, so when we moved into the new house and found a large crop of the fruit just waiting to be pulled, it was like a challenge.

After a quick google search (gotta love google) I found out how to pull rhubarb and had a go. I was quite surprised at how easy it was, and Diane followed me out with her camera. This is the result.

Flattering, no? I'd just come back from a festival and was still recovering. That's my excuse.

Okay, onto the recipe - complete with awesome Diane pictures!

First I pulled around 8 sticks, cut the leaves off (very important!), washed them and then sliced them into chunks maybe a centimetre thick.

I then threw them in a pan, with a small splash of water (not too much - the rhubarb has plenty of its own) added about a tablespoon of sugar and put them on a low heat, stirring fairly often. You want the rhubarb softened, but not a complete mush so it shouldn't take long.

While the rhubarb cooked down, I stirred about 4oz sugar (brown/demerara is best) into 7oz of flour. Because this is going with rhubarb, I thought ginger would be nice so I sprinkled some in - maybe half a teaspoon. I then rubbed 4oz of butter into the mix, till crumbly. Don't rub until its too fine of a crumb, you want it pretty chunky.

Once the rhubarb has cooked down I got Diane to taste it to see if it needed any more sugar. This is a personal taste, since some people like the rhubarb really tart. Add more if you think it needs it, just remember the crumble is pretty sweet, so don't go overboard.

I transferred the cooked rhubarb into a baking dish, and sprinkled the crumble on top.

I then put it in the oven for about half an hour on about 180C.
Our oven is kind of temperamental, so that may need to adjusting depending on your own oven.

Once out of the oven, let it cool slightly (if you can wait), serve with custard and enjoy.

Now, I tried this afterwards, and after hating rhubarb for so long, I think I might be a convert, because I had a whole bowl of this and really enjoyed it. I can't wait to make it again, but rhubarb season is over now so it'll have to wait.
Also, have you ever noticed how rhubarb seems to leave everything squeaky clean? Its awesome, no scrubbing necessary as it just washes off so easily.

I have lots of posts in the works, but I lost my mobile phone, and a lot of related pictures on it so I'm working on it. Bear with me, please!

And yes Ghosty, as promised the pictures of my new tea set will be up shortly (probably tonight or tomorrow), sorry!