spiced pear & ginger crumble

I love winter.  Oh boy, do I love it. I love a serious, committed winter, where the snow sticks to the ground and it is an invigorating kind of cold that makes your cheeks go pink and makes you wonder whether you still have all ten toes. But at the same time I love winter in Sydney because the breeze is cool and brisk but the sunshine is so warm. You get to sleep under a big cozy doona and wear clunky old ugg boots. It makes running much more pleasant and means you can sit by a fire and drink tea cups full of mulled wine.

And you get to turn winter fruits into crumble. Delicious. I've made a bazillion many apple crumbles, which are always the classic cinnamon-y, caramel-y kind of crumble that is a sure crowd pleaser. But when I was asked to make a crumble for a dinner party, I wanted to make something a little more interesting. 

Behold, the spiced pear and ginger crumble. I was told by guests that it tasted warm and spicy and even a little middle-eastern. All good things. It's up to you if you want to be a little less heavy handed with the spices.  

Have you worked with fresh ginger before? It is ugly. It's covered in this papery bark and comes in all kinds of strange shapes and sizes. Don't be intimidated, it isn't at all difficult to work with. All you need it a vegetable peeler.

Spiced pear & ginger crumble

Crumble:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup whole rolled oats
1 Tbs cinnamon
1 tsp all-spice
1/2 a nutmeg seed, grated (or 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg)
125g softened, cubed butter
1 tsp real vanilla extract

Filling:
5 medium sized pears (firm, but ripe)
1 Tbs grated ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs real vanilla extract
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 Tbs plain flour

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.

2. We'll start with the filling. Prepare your ginger by cutting off a piece about the size of your thumb. Using the vegetable peeler, peel off the bark from the bit that you've cut off (leave the skin on the rest to keep it fresh for future use). Using a micro grater, mince the ginger into a big bowl.

3. Rinse the pears and chop them up and add them to the bowl.

4. Add the rest of the filling ingredients to the pear and ginger and toss them until they are all well coated. Pour it all into a baking tray.

5. To make your crumble topping put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine (you can use the same bowl you used to make the pear mixture as the leftover juices will just add to the flavour of the crumble).

6. Once it is all mixed together, add the vanilla extract and the butter. Work them through with your hands (it will get a little messy) until you have a nice, even buttery crumble.

7. Spread it out evenly over the fruit and you're done! You'll need to bake it for abou 35-40 minutes, until the crumble is a nice dark brown colour. If your crumble starts to darken too quickly, cover it in some tin foil and keep cooking it so that your fruit is tender and caramelized.

Serve it piping hot, preferably under a blanket fort with fairy lights and red wine to people you love!