It's winter down here in New Zealand, just the weather for enjoying the all time favourite comfort food - fruit crumble. I've been making this recipe a lot lately and have also substituted tamarillos for the rhubarb. The recipe is from Al Brown and was in the New Zealand Cuisine magazine - issue 141 July 2010.

Rhubarb & Date CrumbleServes 6-8

For the rhubarb
600g rhubarb, cut in 2cm pieces
3 large apples, peeled, cored and cut in 2cm pieces
½ cup apple juice
1 cup pitted dates, halved
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground ginger

Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan, mix together and place on medium – high heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the fruit just starts to break down. Pour into your favourite ovenproof dish. The fruit should be 3cm – 4cm deep in the base.

For the crumble
¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup soft brown sugar
¾ cup flour
1 cup roasted unsalted macadamias, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes
300 ml cream, whipped to soft peaks

Place all the ingredients except the cream in a large mixing bowl. Rub together by hand until the mixture begins to come together, but is still quite course. There should be no visible chunks of butter. Spoon the crumble evenly over the rhubarb mix then refrigerate until required.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC then bake the crumble for 20 minutes or until the topping is golden and crisp. Dish out the crumble into bowls and serve with lashings of whipped cream.

Enjoy !