My favorite thing about Spring besides the gorgeous weather is going strawberry picking!  I am fortunate enough to live close by to three different farms to choose from to pick them.  I try to hit all three every season.  Of course that means lots of strawberries to get through, as they just don’t last like those ones you get at the supermarket that are hard as plastic.

I have made apple crisp, blueberry crisp, but hadn’t tried strawberry rhubarb crisp.

So when I had a ton of beautiful strawberries I pulled out one of my favorite baking cookbooks -   Stars Deserts by Emily Luchettti. I have had this cookbook forever, it has beautiful photos and simple – yet amazing gourmet desserts!

The tip from the farmer was to lay the strawberries flat on a cookie sheet, and place them in the fridge unwashed and enjoy!

I would never imagine that the bitter rhubarb would balance so well with the sweet strawberries.  We gave my son a taste of the rhubarb raw – now he eats everything – like raw onions and garlic, but he spit out the rhubarb!

Here is my version of Emily Luchetti’s (be sure to check out her site and I just found out she is on facbook – I am so excited!)

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp:

Serves 8

Filling:

3 1/2 cups of 1/4-inch-thick-rhubarb (about 5 stalks)

4 cups of strawberries, hulled and sliced

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons tapioca four (or corn starch if you can’t find it)

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

pinch of salt

The Topping:

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

4 ounces (1 stick) cold sweet butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons chopped orange zest

1/2 cup of oats

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the strawberries and rhubarb in a large mixing bowl.  In a small bowl mix the rest of the filling ingredients together.  Then take the filling ingredients and gently mix them into the fruit and place in a 1 1/2 quart ovenproof dish and set aside.

Then make the topping.  Put all the topping ingredients in a mixer fitted with the paddle blade and mix until the butter is incorporated into the mixture.  Sprinkle topping over the fruit.

Bake the crisp for 30 to 35 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and topping is lightly browned.  Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream!

Enjoy!

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