Le crumble is hardly a French invention, yet it has become wildly popular in this country, with apple crumble topping the list of favorites. So in honor of Valentine’s Day I’m offering you this delightful dessert — sweets to the sweet, dear readers. The recipe is simple: peel the apples, chop them, pile into a baking pan, add a butter-flour-and-sugar topping, and bake. When the crumble comes out of the oven, you’ll find that love is all around…
Crumble aux pommes / Apple crumble
The apple crumble pictured here came about when a friend came to dinner recently. I had asked him ahead of time what he’d like me to cook for him, and surprisingly he provided the menu (most people when asked say, unhelpfully, ‘Anything’.) Given the wintry weather, Joel said, we should have some seasonal specialties: French onion soup, boeuf bourguignon and apple crumble. Of course he didn’t realize how labor-intensive the first two items can be. I proposed substituting duck breast for the beef. His reply? ‘I love duck!’
I got started a day ahead of time, making the beef broth for the onion soup, which takes about four hours. The next morning I made the soup (except for the topping) and then the crumble, which was quick and easy. (The only problem was keeping my daughter away from it until dinnertime.) When Joel arrived we made a cozy fire in the fireplace. We heated the soup, filled our bowls, topped them with toast and grated cheese, and popped them into the oven. That went down a treat. We took a break while I made the duck (with honey and thyme instead of cassis), and another break to reheat the crumble, which I served with crème fraîche. Joel was so happy with the dinner that he posted about it!
But getting back to the French love affair with le crumble, it’s fairly recent — as I do not remember seeing crumbles on bistro menus when I first moved to Paris in the ’70s. At some point since then it hopped the Channel from Britain, where the crumble is viewed as a national institution. After adopting the idea, the French got creative, and now crumbles of every variety are on offer at eateries from simple bistros to three-star restaurants.
Crumbles are popular with home chefs here too. The magazine Elle, which features excellent recipes every week, has a long list of crumbles in its archives, starting with apple — apple-hazelnut crumble, apple-grape crumble, apple-pear crumble with Calvados — and going on to other fruits (plum, raspberry, cranberries, pineapple), savory crumbles (zucchini-chicken, finocchio, sweet potato, cauliflower-goat cheese), and even a chocolate crumble. One recipe builds a tower of tomato and mozzarella slices topped with a crumble that incorporates powdered almonds, black olives and anchovies. Now, that’s creative!
As I happen to be a big fan of crumbles, not least because they are so easy to make, I’ve posted various other crumble recipes on this site — with blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb and a summer crumble with plums, peaches and black currants. Haven’t got around to a veggie crumble yet, but I just might add that to my list dishes yet to come.
Happy cooking.
