Rhubarb & custard crumble pie

Say what? Rhubarb and custard and crumble and pie? All together?

Oh yes!

Rhubarb and custard, a match made in heaven (well it is to most, I hate custard). Throw on some crumble and you've got a pretty perfect dessert. If you like rhubarb, which sadly many don't. What these people are missing out on!

So this recipe combines the best of both worlds; pie and crumble. You can substitute the fruit with any other that can be baked. Oh I'm dreaming of an apple version or a raspberry version. Mmmmmmm.

Make it, go on you know you want to!

Ingredients

Pastry:

225g plain flour

120g butter

80g caster sugar 

1 large egg

Milk

Pie filling:

275g fresh rhubarb 

100g golden caster sugar 

1 large egg and 2 yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp plain flour

150ml single cream

70ml milk

Crumble topping:

50g butter, melted

50g golden caster sugar

50g oats

1/2 tsp ginger 

Prepare the pastry and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes or make the day before. Either by hand or in a food processor, crumble the butter and flour together. Add the egg and sugar and enough milk to bring together. Go easy on the milk. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate.

Chop the rhubarb into 1-2cm pieces and pop in a pan with half of the sugar. (50g) Cook until the sugar has just dissolved, then leave until ready to use (I prepped mine the day before with the pastry). 

Preheat oven to 180/160 fan and roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Pop into a 24cm fluted tin ensuring there are no gaps and it comes up to the top of the sides (it shrinks slightly on baking). Prick with a fork and line the tin with greaseproof paper. Fill with baking beans (I use old dried lentils) and bake for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and bake for 5 minutes more. Turn up the oven to 200/180 fan.

In a bowl, mix together the egg, yolks, the other half of the sugar, flour and vanilla essence. Then mix in the cream, milk and any juices from the rhubarb.

Dot the rhubarb pieces around the part cooked pie pastry and pour over the custard mix. 

Bake for 20 minutes until a skin has formed. While it's baking mix the topping ingredients together then spoon onto the top of the part cooked pie and cook for a further 15 minutes. There should be a very slight wobble when it's baked, any more and you need to keep it baking longer.

Remove from the oven and serve warm with cream or ice cream. Or just on its own. Enjoy!