Cuisine – Hello feijoas!

Summer is on the way out, and I feel a bit sad about that. I have had to bid a temporary farewell to singlets, jandals, BBQs and strawberries. I can, however, soon say, “Hello!” to feijoas. That really turns my frown upside down. I adore feijoas both fresh and baked. They are a good source of dietary fibre, which can help lower our cholesterol and optimise our digestion. They have vitamins that aid our body function and minerals like Vitamin C to help boost our immunity. They are good for us and they taste amazing. I really like to scoop the flesh out of a feijoa and eat it fresh but that’s not much of a recipe is it? Instead, I am going to share a dessert with you that takes 15 minutes to prepare and around 45 minutes to bake. This is a delectable dish that must be served with fresh cream or vanilla ice-cream. Please let me reiterate “must be”. It is a crumble, and I pride myself on my crumbles. I hope you love this one.

Feijoa Crumble

4 medium apples – I use green or red
10+ medium feijoas
1 large lemon or two small ones
A pinch of salt
1 ¼ cup raw sugar
½ cup whole almonds
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup peanuts or cashew nuts
¼ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup plain flour
50g chilled butter
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven on bake at 180C. Peel and de-seed your apples, then chop them into small chunks – no need to be neat here. Throw your apples into a high baking dish; approx 20cm x 20cm. Scoop all the insides out of your feijoas (make sure you get everything) and throw them in with your apple chunks. Zest the skin of your lemon and pop the zest in a medium-sized bowl for later. Cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice of both halves over your fruit; be sure to collect the seeds. Add your pinch of salt and sprinkle over only half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix everything well, then lightly press flat into the baking dish.

Grab your bowl with the lemon zest. Chop or crush your almonds and peanuts/cashew nuts coarsely and throw them in with the zest. Add your rolled oats, coconut, 1 tsp of cinnamon, flour and quarter cup of raw sugar. Give everything a gentle mix. Cut the chilled butter in to small chunks and pop it in with the dry ingredients.

You need to get your hands dirty now. Use your fingers to rub the butter through the dry ingredients. This may take a few minutes. You want to keep rubbing the butter through until you have small balls. Add a little bit more butter if necessary or flour if it’s too wet.
Once you’ve made your crumble, distribute it evenly over top of the wet ingredients in the baking dish. Gently spread the crumble flat as you did with the fruit. Sprinkle a little bit more sugar and cinnamon over if you have more available and place the dish in the centre of the oven. We don’t want the crumble too close to the top of the oven, because the crumble will burn but the fruit won’t bake. It will take about 40-50 minutes for the apples to start breaking down. You know the crumble is done when the fruit starts to bubble up around all four sides of the baking dish. Serve immediately with a really big dollop of runny cream or ice-cream over the top.

Nicola Bolton
nicolabolton.lan@gmail.com