Pear season has started. There are all kinds, and I use them differently depending on the variety. Bosc pears are my favorite for a raw snack and baking, while I reserve Bartlett pears for a homemade pear sauce. Nothing simpler: just cut them up, add some water – not too much – at the bottom of the pan, cover and let them get tender before blending. Of course I never add any sugar to my pear sauce (or my apple sauce for that matter). I also use pear sauce in my gluten-free French crêpes batter; it adds natural sweetness and fluffiness to my crêpes, making them easier to flip in the pan.
Back to my crumble. I decided to add a little tang to it by including fresh ginger and lemon zest in the topping. I ALWAYS have ginger and lemon in my fridge. These two ingredients are part of our cure-all tea at home, be it a sorethroat, a stomach virus or a nasty bout of flu 🤒… Ready for the recipe? Here goes:
Ingredients (for a 9”x9” square dish)
– 900 g / 2 lbs Bosc pears
for the topping:
– 65 g / 2.25 oz sorghum flour
– 35 g / 1.25 oz almond meal, organic and unsulphered!; if you are unsure about almond meal you can safely use tigernut flour instead
– 35 to 40 g / 1.25 to 1.4 oz light brown sugar
– pinch celtic sea salt
– 50 g / 1.75 oz non hydrogenated margarine / coconut oil
– 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
– the zest of an organic lemon, grated; this operation is a breeze if the zest is frozen, which is why I systematically save all the “shells” from the lemons I have squeezed in the freezer.
How to:
(Preheat oven to 200 °C / 390 ° F)
1. Mix all the dry ingredients for the topping. Mix in the margarine with a fork or by hand, pinching the mixture between your fingers until topping is crumbly.
2. Peel, core and cut the pears. Place in an oven-proof dish.
3. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the fruit. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!
sulfite-free cooking 