Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Between the seemingly-endless rain storms in Toronto this spring, there have been some gloriously sunny days.  Those sunny days saw me working in the garden trying to clear out all the weeds that grew to huge size due to all the rain.  But the rain also helped my rhubarb patch grow and ripen early, and inspired by their beautiful red stalks, I decided to make a rhubarb strawberry crisp.

Ingredients

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup of vegan-friendly granulated sugar and 1/3 cup of vegan-friendly granulated sugar

1/2 cup of vegan margerine - I used Earth Balance

3/4 cup of rolled oats

Pinch of salt

1 tsp of cinnamon

Rhubarb and strawberries - enough to fill an 8"x8" baking dish about halfway


Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350F

1. Wash your rhubarb taking care to be certain that no garden soil remains on the stalks.  Cut the stalks into pieces about one inch in length and put them in the baking dish.

2. Wash the strawberries under running water.  Hull and slice them and put them into the baking dish along with the rhubarb and toss them together.

3. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of granulated sugar over the strawberries and rhubarb, and set your baking dish aside.

4. Into a large mixing bowl, add the flour, the brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sugar, the cinnamon and the pinch of salt.  Whisk the ingredients together.

5. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the margerine until the mixture resembles very small peas.

6. Using a wooden spoon, blend in the oatmeal.  Do not use your hands for this because the heat from your fingers will melt the margerine and you don't want that to happen.  The mixture will get a little clumpy, but that is ok.

7. Spoon the mixture evenly over the rhubarb and strawberries in the baking dish.

Note: if you have been generous with the amount of rhubarb and strawberries that you put in your baking dish, you run the real possibility that the fruit will boil over in the oven.  Do yourself a favour, and put the baking dish on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

8. Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes.  In my oven, the crisp was done in 55 minutes.  Remove the crisp from the oven when the top is golden brown.