Gingery Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Brown Sugar-Pecan Topping

I love the cookbook Fresh from the Farm by Susie Middleton. I love the story of a woman who gave up the city life and the big job to move to the country. I love that she met a carpenter and fell in love. I love her farm and her chickens and her vegetables and her little vegetable stand. I love the photos in this book and I knew I would love the recipes too and now I do!

The minute I got to page 60 and saw this rhubarb recipe I knew I would make it. My husband planted a garden on the side of our house in the suburbs and he planted rhubarb because we love it. Ours is green. There's no red at all! Green rhubarb is pretty common. Did you know that? It's also completely delicious.

I used mini 6-inch glass pie plates because I wanted to share this crisp with my neighbors and these little pie plates are a very easy way to do it. Just like the author, my favorite way to eat any kind of crisp is cold, right out of the refrigerator, with a little vanilla yogurt on top. For breakfast! It's better than cereal or granola or really just about anything. But Willie's favorite way is to eat it hot with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. We both got our way today!

Gingery Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Brown Sugar-Pecan Topping
by Sandra
adapted from a recipe in Fresh from the Farm by Susie Middleton

serves 6

For the topping:
8 Tablespoons butter, softened, plus more for the baking dish(es)
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely chopped pecan
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup regular oats
1/4 teaspoon coarse, kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

For the filling:
2 1/2 cups hulled, quartered strawberries
2 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons crystallized ginger, finely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (I used pomegranate balsamic because that is what I had on hand today.)
1/4 teaspoon coarse, kosher salt

For serving:
Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, or heavy cream. Vanilla yogurt tastes wonderful with cold or room temperature crisp! If you accidentally leave the ice cream on the counter when you come home from the store like I did, just pour it on your crisp. My friend Gary says it's called crème anglaise.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter your baking dish(es). I used 6-inch individual glass pie plates but you can use any shallow baking pan you have.

Place all of the ingredients for the topping in a mixing bowl and combine then with your fingers until large crumbs form, set aside.

In another mixing bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients and give them a good stir until they are combined. Pout the filling evenly in the baking dish(es) and do the same with the topping. Bake the crisp until it is golden, between 30 to 45 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes and serve. Let cool completely and if you have any leftovers you can refrigerate them.

P.S. Did you know today is National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day? I believe this crisp qualifies! The author wrote that the ginger and balsamic make this recipe special and I agree. They give it a nice zing!

37 Cooks was provided 5 Fresh from the Farm cookbooks by the publisher for our review.