Rhumble

I can't think of any better tribute to a spring rhubarb than to turn it into a tasty crumble pudding. I'm sure there are lots of other exciting things I could be doing with it, but the first rhubarb of the year deserves a crumble.

Rhubarb and ginger are a well known duo and my pudding isn't going to be an exception: a bit of stem ginger in syrup gives it a lovely, warm, spicy flavour. Chop it up pretty finely though, as you probably don't want to bite down on a huge chunk of ginger, no matter how much you like it.

Ginger and rum are also a common pairing, so it wasn't a huge leap for me to go from rhubarb to ginger to rum, making this dish a Rhumble in more ways than one.

Cut your rhubarb into nice little lengths and pop it into a saucepan with some sugar (to taste), the ginger, a splash of water and a couple of capfuls of dark rum. Heat up until it goes all squishy, ten minutes maybe.

In the meantime make your topping. It's very like making pastry at the beginning: rub 50g butter into 100g flour until breadcrumby. Then add 50g sugar, I like brown sugar best for this, and whatever oats or nuts you happen to have in the house, crushed into little peices.

Put the rhubarb mixture into the bottom of a dish, top with the crumble and sling in the oven for 20 minutes.

Particularly delicious with freshly whipped cream! Equally tasty with custard.