Strawberry crumble

It is mid-July and yet we have been buying lovely sweet local strawberries as recently as last weekend at the Farmers Market.  I have been chatting to people at the stall about how surprised they are to still have strawberries growing in midwinter when they are usually doing maintenance and having a break.  We have been loving the strawberries and eating lots of them fresh.  However I have had some dreams that I might turn some into a crumble.

When Sylvia's friend came over for a sleepover last weekend, Sylvia put in an order for strawberry crumble.  So I baked while they watched Disney's Descendents, a movie I am happy to leave and potter about in the kitchen.  We served the crumble with custard.  It was a lovely way to warm up in a house without a decent heater.   

I'd like to claim it helped the girls go to sleep quickly but unfortunately not.  They slept late and were up early.  It amused and pleased me that they watched Back in Time for Dinner the next morning.  It is an ABC tv series where a family experiences life in 7 different decades.

I loved this intimate way of learning more about different decades, with an emphasis on food, as well as housework, recreation and technology.  The standout moment was when 10 year old Olivia names a fish Jeff when shown a fishtank at a Thai restaurant and is horrified when Jeff is served to her for dinner.  They also tried vegan burgers are future food in the last episode and were quite impressed.

The show made me reflect on how things were and how much they have changed for me as well as for the nation.  It brought back memories of a 20c bag of mixed lollies at the milkbar (oh joy), my first experiences of a microwave (magic), the introduction of CDs (apparently they were so sturdy you could cook a pizza on them), and my first little nokia mobile phone (with reluctance).  And if Back in Time for Dinner had reflected my childhood there would have been lots of warm fruit crumbles and chocolate puddings.

More warming puddings on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Apple sponge (pudding) (v)
Banana butterscotch pudding (v)
Chocolate pudding (v)
Golden syrup dumplings (v)
Pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding (v)
Rhubarb and strawberry crumble (v)

Strawberry Crumble
adapted from taste.com 
Serves 4

375g strawberries, hulled and halved
1 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Crumble
5 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp almond meal
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 tbsp sugar
40g butter (or margarine)

1 cup custard, to serve

Mix strawberries, maple syrup and lemon juice in the base of a 16 x 21cm baking dish.  In a medium bown, rub butter into the dry ingredients until you have quite a chunky mixture.  Bake for  15 minutes at 220 C.  Serve hot with warm custard.

On the Stereo:
Nightflight - Kate Miller Heidke