Oaty Rhubarb Crumble

I just couldn't resist the rhubarb in the veg shop today. It's the first I've seen this season and it was not cheap - £4.50 for 4 good-sized sticks, enough for a decent crumble though. I have to say that by the time we round to pudding there was only half a crumble left, as I had a little taster before my 5 mile run and then the vultures descended on it on their return home from school. Truly delicious and brimming with goodness, rhubarb is highly nutritious and packed with vitamin C, fibre and phytonutrients, and if you make your crumble with wholemeal flour and oats, the only real baddies are the sugar and the butter....great for a treat and a perfect dessert if you are training. Nice and substantial, the fruit and the crumble topping are low GI so in theory should keep you going longer than the average dessert. 

You can use this healthy oaty crumble topping with any fruit, but it work particularly well

 with rhubarb. 

Ingredients
700g rhubarb

2 tbsp (50g) sugar 

2 tbsp orange juice 

1 tbsp stem ginger syrup (optional)

1 tsp powdered ginger (optional)

150g self-raising wholemeal flour

60g Jumbo porridge oats

100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

85g demerara sugar

Preparation

1.    Turn the oven on to 180°C.

2.   Make the crumble mixture - rub together the butter and the flour until the mixture looks and feels like breadcrumbs. Stir in the porridge oats and the demerara sugar. 

3.    Cut the rhubarb up into 2 cm pieces and put it into an ovenproof pie dish. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar,  the  orange juice and the ginger, if you are using it. 

4.    Pour the crumble mixture over the top of the rhubarb and cook in the oven for about 45 minutes.