Peach and Rhubarb Crisp

The end of the summer and beginning of fall have brought a lot of changes to my life. I'm still going through a pretty crazy change in my professional life, and it's thrown a lot out of balance in my personal life. One of the biggest issues, as you've guessed, is keeping up with things here at Lighter and Local.

I miss it. I miss the writing, the photography, the cooking, the therapy that this little slice of the web brings me.

So I'm trying for a comeback here. I need this.

This past weekend, my husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Five years ago, on a rainy cold October day, I married a man I knew I could grow with. I knew marriage wasn't magic ponies, rainbows, and forever after. Marriage is work, but the pay off is what makes it worth it.

Our wedding day, Salem, MA.

Dave and I have been through a lot in our five years. We've lost a lot of loved ones. We've had our ups and downs, but we're both fighters. We know what's worth fighting for.

We're simple. We're happiest with a fantastic home-cooked meal, nothing fancy, just soul-warming. We're happy cuddling up on the couch with the pugs, watching a good movie, and enjoying just hanging out together.

This crisp is modified from the one I always make. It's one of my favorites. It's simple, but it lacks the pretense of anything complicated and fancy. It's a lot like marriage in some cases. It's successful if you have good ingredients, a good base, a fantastic heart, and are willing to modify along the way.

 Peach and Rhubarb Crisp
Serves: 4-6
Adapted from: Cooks Illustrated

This is perfect for those end-of-summer and early fall peaches. They're still prevalent in New England even in early October. This is a perfect use for them before they're gone. 

Ingredients:


Topping:

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:

• 4 ripe peaches (I don't peel them, you can if you prefer that)
• 1 cup sliced rhubarb
• zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

Instructions:

Topping:

1. Put the flour, sugars, spices, and salt in a food processor, fitted with a standard blade, and pulse twice to combine the dry ingredients.
2. Add your butter to the dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture ends up like coarse cornmeal. Do not over mix.
3. Put topping into the fridge for at least 15 minutes as you make your filling.
4. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Filling:

1. In a large bowl, combine fruit, lemon zest and juice, and sugar. 
2. Toss until everything is well coated.

Assembling:

1. Grease a pie dish or baking dish, pour fruit mixture into your baking dish and distribute the chilled topping over the fruit. 
2. Put into the oven and bake 40 minutes, then increase oven temp to 400 degrees for the last 5 minutes until fruit mixture is bubbling and topping is brown.
3. Remove from the oven, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving with ice cream or whipped cream.