Rhubarb Crumble

The story

Rhubarb crumble belongs to no Easter custom in Ireland, but it is the dessert the season puts on the table. Irish rhubarb comes in from late February to March, depending on how cold the winter has been, and it arrives before asparagus, so the first stalks are ready in time for Easter. The food writer Margaret M. Johnson, writing in the Irish Echo, lists the ways it appears on Irish menus: crisps, cakes, pies, tarts, jams and chutneys. Her own crumble came from an Avoca café in County Wicklow, where the rhubarb is cooked with elderflower cordial and covered with a topping of oatmeal, hazelnuts and almonds. Imen McDonnell, who writes the Modern Farmette column in the Irish Farmers Journal, remembered her first Easter in Ireland, a roast dinner cooked by her mother-in-law at the farm. She wrote that her rhubarb crumble was a spring staple of her mother's kitchen rather than an Easter dish, yet her family has asked for it at Easter several times over the years. The version here keeps to the plain form: sharp rhubarb under a crumbly topping of flour, butter, brown sugar and a few oats. It can go into the oven as the Easter roast comes out, and it is served warm with custard or cream.