Easter pudding - Rhubarb and sticky stem ginger crumble

After a lovely sunny Easter spent mainly gorging on chocolate eggs and Easter dinner - being somewhat traditional we had lamb - I thought I would share with you the pudding I made for yesterday's festivities; rhubarb and sticky stem ginger crumble. I don't often have the luxury or time to make puddings, so this one was perfect for the occasion, i.e easy and tasty.

Festive too, as rhubarb has just come into season (when I'm at home I'm lucky enough to be able to pick it straight from the garden), this recipe is from Jamie Oliver's 'jamie at home' book.
Trust me, the simplicity of the recipe takes nothing away from the taste of this easy-to-make crumble-with-a-twist and I highly recommend it, especially for this time of year.

This recipe serves four to six, we had five generous servings of it and there is still (blissfully) some in the fridge.. midnight snack anyone?

Ingredients -

• 1kg rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into large chunks
• 200g soft brown sugar
• zest and juice of one orange (I didn't have an orange so I used 2 tbsp of orange juice)
• 100g plain flour
• 100g cold butter
• 100g oats
• 2 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
• (we also had ice-cream to serve, which I feel is definitely compulsory)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C, or Gas 4. Put the rhubarb, half the sugar, the orange juice and zest into a pan. Put a lid on top and bring to the boil on the hob, and simmer for a few minutes. 
2. Remove the lid and simmer for about five more minutes until your rhubarb has softened slightly. I'll admit, I neglected my rhubarb and it went too far on the wrong side of mushy, but if you get it out the pan with a slotted spoon and save the leftover juice in a jug, it makes a delicious rhubarb syrup, yummy on top of ice-cream. A happy accident, I would like to think.. 
3. Spoon the rhubarb into an oven-proof baking dish and spread evenly across the bottom. 
4. For the crumble, rub the butter and the flour together with your fingers in a mixing bowl until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the oats, the sugar and the stem ginger and mix until evenly combined. 
5. Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit, and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the rhubarb is bubbling and the crumble is golden. Because I overcooked the rhubarb at the 'pan stage', 25 minutes was enough cooking time for mine. 

Let it rest for a bit as the rhubarb with be like molten-lava and then serve generously with ice-cream, cream or custard. 

The stem ginger adds a lovely spice to the whole dish and it is a warming, seasonal way to end a Sunday dinner, or simply as a weekday treat. Suitable for vegetarians, and really easy to make too. 

Now I'm off to enjoy the last of my days at home, trying to ride out the sugar buzz from my Easter chocolate feasting, in the pleasantly (un)seasonal spring sunshine. Then it's back to Glasgow via Edinburgh for exams, partying and hopefully some exciting urban food as well. Oh, and probably rain, boo. 

Happy Easter Monday everyone!