Winter days and a recipe for apple and pawpaw crumble

I am loving winter. Apparently it’s one of the coldest starts to winter in Melbourne’s history – with five degree mornings and days that barely reach the teens. I love rugging up and cooking cosy meals – soups and stews and naughty desserts have been on the menu. This long weekend has been a relaxing one – I’ve been sore – I’ve cooked and read and watched movies and lozzed around in bed, reading and listening to podcasts. Lovely. And I’ve been playing with my new Olympus camera – I am in love. We went to the park today, walking and snapping in the sunshine. Here are some photos – and a recipe 🙂

I’ve been having fun being frugal with food – buying fresh and whole (as usual) and stretching as many meals out of a weekly shop as I can. Yesterday we went to the market for an hour, and I grabbed some fruit and vegetables – such a big bounty for less than $20.

When we got home, I cooked us lunch. I’d bought a piece of smoked bacon as a treat, and cut off a tiny bit of it to fry with some brussel sprouts , garlic and chilli. I made the meal heartier by adding one chopped chicken thigh fillet and a small sliced capsicum, plus salt, pepper and mixed herbs. So delicious. 

Adam didn’t eat his sprouts, so more for me. It’s ok – he gets away with not eating his vegetables when he looks this cute.

  Sandra came over for dinner last night and I cooked risotto (chicken, mushroom, zucchini and pumpkin), and also an apple and pawpaw (papaya) crumble.

I bought some beautiful pink lady apples and half a pawpaw from the market. The apples were $2 a kilo – so sweet.  I am not a fan of raw pawpaw but love it cooked and dried.

I halved the pawpaw and cut the flesh out of it (including the seeds) like I’d cut a mango. The other half is in the fridge – I might stew it for porridge later in the week. I also cut the apples (skin on). I put the apples and pawpaw in a saucepan.

And then I added two teaspoons of firmly packed brown sugar, one teaspoon or powdered ginger, one teaspoon of cardamom, one teaspoon of vanilla paste, one teaspoon of cinnamon and half a cup of water to the saucepan full of fruit. 

I cooked this on low heat with the lid on until it was mushy. I let it cool. And pre-heated the oven. 

The next step was to make the crumble. I mixed half a cup of plain flour, half a cup of oats and a quarter cup  each of coconut and brown sugar. I also used 50 grams of room temperature butter and a tablespoon of maple butter. I am not one to cook with my hands, and so Sandra did the rubbing of the butter into the dry mix. Once combined, she patted the crumble mix on the fruit, and I put it in the oven for 20 minutes.

And then she taught me how to cook custard from a packet – just like Mum used to make. Sandra is the best! Such a delicious dessert. We ate it while it was warm, sighing over how good it was.

It’s been a nice weekend. I am easing my way back into writing – am planning to write some posts after dinner tonight. Hope yours was lovely too!