I have fond memories of fruit picking with my family when I was a child. Sunny days collecting strawberries and other fruit, quality control taste testing as much as went into the basket and returning for weighing with stained fingers and lips. Happy days! I've been wanting to take the boys fruit picking for so long and took the opportunity now that we're in Dorset for a few days.
I googled local fruit farms and found Sopley Farm near Christchurch - after a quick phone call just to make sure they still had plenty of fruit in season, we packed up and headed off there. It didn't disappoint. The staff were really friendly and we collected punnets of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. Far too much really, but it's kind of addictive.
So with all our fruit wares and being in someone else's kitchen without my usual baking tins and equipment, I decided to make a free-form Summer Fruit Crumble Galette in the style of Donna Hays. I did cheat and buy some pre-made sweet shortcrust pastry but you can make your own if you prefer. The main fruits were strawberries and raspberries but I wanted to add in some blackberries too for some extra colour and we agreed that they added an additional dimension to the taste.
I love the sweet shortcrust pastry pairing with fruit, but what I really loved about this was the crumble topping which added extra texture and flavour and was seriously delicious. I am a big fan of crumble so you'll always finding my doubling any recipe quantities for my desserts.
This was delicious warm straight from the oven. The fruit was so juicy against the crispy shortcrust pastry and using such fresh ripe fruit meant that we didn't have to add any sugar to bring out the sweetness.
There are so many creations with such an abundance of fruit, but this is a really simple and delicious dish. I like the freeform style but what it lacks in straight sides, it definitely makes up in its wonderful flavours. A definite winner and gorgeous summer pud.
Summer Fruit Crumble Galette
Ingredients
- 320G SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY (I bought pre-made chilled pastry)
- 3 TBSP APRICOT JAM
- SELECTION OF FRUIT (add at your discretion but I used several handfuls of strawberries and raspberries with a scattering of blackberries)
- 60G BUTTER
- 3 TBSP GROUND ALMONDS
- 50G FLOUR
- 3 TBSP CASTER SUGAR
- 3/4 TSP GROUND CINNAMON
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)
- Prepare your fruit of choice and set aside
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and unroll your pastry on to here (I didn't have to roll out my pastry any further but you're looking for it to be around 5mm thick)
- Spread the apricot jam over the base leaving a 5cm border around the pastry
- Pile your fruit over the jam
- Fold the edges of the pastry up over the fruit (you only have the 5cm border to do this with so it just forms a tray of sorts that the fruit sit in)
- Mix together the butter, ground almonds, flour, caster sugar and cinnamon with your fingertips to create a crumble
- Scatter the crumble across the top of the galette
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit bubbling
- Serve with custard, cream or ice cream :)