Butternut and Apple Crumble (SRC)

Oh my…this recipe might just be my new favorite thing! A sweet but savory twist on a crumble…Mmmmmm. This delicious dish includes a few of my all-time ingredients and has a unique and incredible flavor profile. I can’t tell you how excited I am to share it with you, I could actually squeal! For those of you who actually know me, I am sure you can visualize and hear me giggling in excitement right now

Some of you may be tired of winter squash recipes, but I am giving it a last “hoorah” as it was 12F yesterday morning, and the flavors of fall and winter still have a grip on me. This is the second time I’ve made this dish in a week, and I (am a bit embarrassed to) admit that I haven’t shared it with anyone…I fully intended to but lunch, snack time and dinner came around and it disappeared!

For the Secret Recipe Club this month, I was assigned Susan’s blog The Wimpy Vegetarian. After reading her post on using food words as story, I knew she was my kind of gal! I chose her Farmhouse Butternut and Apple Crumble for March, although I had my eye a few other dishes, I kept coming back to this one…and I am MORE than thrilled that I did! I made a few changes: I increased the ginger a tad because I love ginger, swapped out oat flour for all-purpose to make it gluten free and subbed coconut sugar for brown sugar. I increased the mushrooms to use up what I had on hand and opted for a combination of chopped dried figs and tart cherries in the filling since I didn’t have fig jam in the fridge. To keep it dairy-free and make this recipe vegan, I used coconut oil in place of butter and I loved the flavor that it lends to the overall dish. Did I mention that I love this dish?!? Thank you, Susan, I will be making this over and over again!

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Courses: Lunch

Ingredients

For the Filling:

1 Tbsp coconut oil, unsalted butter, ghee or Earth Balance (use oil or Earth Balance for dairy-free and/or vegan)
2/3 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots (1 large shallot)
4 cups peeled and diced butternut squash, into 3/4″ pieces
1 1/2 tsp to 3 tsps freshly grated ginger root to taste (I love ginger so I used 3 tsp)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 cups thinly sliced apple (unpeeled, I used Gala)
2 -3 Tbsp dried cherries, cranberries and/or chopped figs (I used 1 chopped fig & 1 Tbsp chopped tart cherries based on what I had on hand)
1/2 tsp sea salt

For the Crumble:

1/4 cup oat flour OR gluten-free all-purpose flour*
1/4 cup gluten free oats
2 Tbsp coconut palm sugar (or other granulated sweetener)
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch ground ginger
4 Tbsp coconut oil, unsalted butter, ghee or Earth Balance (use oil or Earth Balance for dairy-free & vegan)

Instructions

1
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F, and generously butter or oil a baking dish. I used a casserole dish and a large ramekin for mine.
- In a large frying pan, melt the oil/butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook until the shallots are soft and the mushroom begin to melt into the oil/butter, about 7 minutes.
- Add the butternut squash and sauté until it softens and begins to brown, about 15 minutes. After the squash has been sautéing for 10 minutes, add the ginger and apple slices. Sauté all together for the final 5 minutes. Add a little extra oil/butter if the skillet is dry, but no more than 1/2 tablespoon.
- Stir in the broth, thyme, dried cherries/fig/cranberries, and salt.
- Pour the squash filling into the prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake until just tender, about 20 minutes.
- Combine all the Crumble ingredients together in a small bowl except the butter/oil. Chop the butter into pieces and add to the mixture. Pinch the butter in the mixture until the crumble is coarse, and some chunks of butter are the size of peas. This can also be done in a small bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade (this is what I used). Just pulse until the chunks of butter are no larger than a pea.
- When the squash filling comes out of the oven, scatter the crumble over the top and return to the oven for another 20 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.