Here's a celebration of the summer that's saying goodbye. I hung on particularly strong to this summer, not wanting it to end, partly because it was wonderful, partly because goodbyes have always been hard. But this fruit crumble made with summer fresh blueberries, peaches, sour cherries (cleverly frozen from their abundant peak in the markets in July) and sprinkled with lemon verbena leaves, isn't my usual Labour day weekend lament. It's a celebration of a summer that marked a painful but happy change, and a reminder that summer will always come back again next year, no matter how far away that seems ...
Summer Celebration Fruit Crumble
2 ripe peaches, diced
1 cup of blueberries
1/2 cup of sour cherries (frozen is fine, or replace with strawberries .. they're still in the markets!)
2 large sprigs of lemon verbena leaves (a good substitute would be lemon zest)
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of cane sugar
Place all these ingredients in a baking dish and mix well. Then make the crumble.
1/2 cup of oats
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of spelt flourjuice of and zest of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil
In a mixing bowl, mix together the oats, sugar spelt flour and zest. Add the lemon juice and oil and mix to form a crumble. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until the juice starts bubbling up and the crumble gets a nice golden brown.
Enjoy with strong coffee, fun summer memories, and future summer plans.
