Classic but oh-so-amazing apple crumble!

Yeah yeah I know what you're thinking - phaw apple crumble, there too many recipes for that, it's nothing new. And yes, I admit that this is classic, old fashioned apple crumble with no modern, fashionable twists to it but isn't that we want sometimes, when the wind is howling outside and work seems to stretch interminably ahead of us? Certainly what we like in our house with dollops of custard!


This crumble recipe is from my friend Ben Knell, the head pastry chef at Pearl Restaurant in London, and it's the only crumble recipe I use - it gets the right mixture of that sweet, crunchy, buttery taste. I also use his method of cooking the crumble - I spread it out on a baking tray and bake it separately from the apples and then reassemble the crumble when they're both cooked. Might seem a faff but this way you can ensure that the apple (or whatever fruit you want to use) isn't all gooey and icky with flour and the crumble is perfectly crisp. Just try it and see (and it's not that much more effort!). I just hope he doesn't mind me sharing his cheffy secrets :P

For the crumble:

125g butter, cubed

125g sugar

125g ground almonds

150g plain flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C. Put the flour, ground almonds and the sugar in a large bowl and mix until combined. Add the butter and then rub it in with your fingertips until you can't see any large bits of butter. 

2. Spread this mixture out evenly on a baking tray line with baking parchment and put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until its golden and crispy. 

3. Leave to cool and then break the crumble into bitesize chunks (I swear my friends and I eat more crumble at this stage and actually with the apples!)

For the apples:

6 Bramley/eating apples or whatever fruit you fancy (pear, rhubarb etc)

2-3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinammon

Handful dried raisins or cranberries (optional)

1. Peel, core and chop up the apples into chunks and put in a baking dish. Sprinkle over the sugar and cinammon and toss to combine evenly. 

2. Put it in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the apples are soft and the juices are bubbling. 

3. When the apples are done, sprinkle over the cooked crumble and serve with custard! (There, told you this way was easy!)

What about a curry tonight?

I realised that all my recipes so far have required an oven and I know that not everyone has ovens at uni so here's a very simple curry recipe for which you only need a pan and the hob!


I must admit though that whichever way we cook rice, it turns out quite gloopy and too wet each time so if anyone's got a foolproof way of making fluffy rice in which you can actually see individual grains of rice, please let me know below! :D 


This is a vegetarian recipe but you can easily make this into a meat curry if you like by replacing the lentils with chicken breast or whatever takes your fancy. Just make sure to cook it until there's no pink meat showing! 

For the curry:


1 onion, chopped
500g red lentils (or meat if you prefer)
Half a jar of curry paste (I used Patak's Balti Paste from Sainsbury's)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 packet fresh coriander, roughly chopped


1. Fry the onions in a large pan with some oil until golden brown. Add the lentils and the curry paste and stir to coat everything in the pan. Add the tomatoes and stir again. 
2. Have a cup of water besides the pan and whenever the curry looks too dry/is sticking to the pan, add some water so there's enough liquid for the lentils to cook (despite some rumours that lentils are poisonous when uncooked, this is actually not true. I undercooked the lentils slightly in this curry so they kept some bite rather being completely mushy and I'm glad to say that we're all perfectly alive!). 
3. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes and keep adding water if it gets too dry. Add the fresh coriander at the end and serve with rice and naan bread! (If anyone finds this too spicy, just add a tablespoon or two of Greek yoghurt and that'll make things much milder!)