I was in a warm fruit mood, and since we are half way between winter and spring here in Adelaide (it was 70 F/21C today!!), apples, pears and strawberries seem to be the most abundant fruit around me. So I decided to make an apple, pear and strawberry crisp with five spice and fresh vanilla bean ice cream. I used to make this crisp when I worked as a pastry chef, and I was quite shocked the first time I tasted five spice on the fruit. It gave the dish such depth, it was quite surprising. If anyone had told me before to use five spice on fruit, I would have probably have said no and done something rude like shove them or lock their dog in their mailbox. But I?m older, wiser, and a bit more adventurous than I used to be, and my stomach is pretty happy about that. It?s a simple recipe. I peeled, cored and diced 6 pink lady apples and 6 beurre bosc pears, put them in a large pan and tossed with sugar, five spice, and corn flour (corn starch in the States). I don?t have any measurements because I was taught the recipe by taste. I placed the pan in the oven (roughly 180 C/ 350 F) for around an hour, taking it out every 20 minutes or so to stir the fruit and adjust the flavor. The fruit will need a lot more sugar than you think, and it can stand a decent amount of five spice powder too, so experiment to your liking. I like to taste the fruit several times during the cooking process so I can adjust as they bake. When the fruit was soft and juice that leaked out had started to thicken, I made a quick streusel (from Alton Brown?s cookbook, basically brown sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon and salt) and sprinkled it on top. Sprinkling is the key, even if you want a lot of topping. I once patted the topping down, and it turned into a doughy mess. It baked for another 20 minutes until the topping browned and juices started bubbling out of the sides. Look at the molten fruit goodness!
While the crisp was baking, I threw together a vanilla ice cream base that was really simple; just 1 ? cups of heavy cream, ? cup of milk, ? cup of sugar, and a scraped vanilla bean heated in a pot on medium low heat until the mix is barely boiling. I whisked 2 eggs in a bowl and tempered a little of the hot mixture into the eggs by spooning a bit at a time and whisking it into the eggs. This will slowly bring up the temperature of the eggs so when you add them to the pot of hot liquid, they will not turn into vanilla flavored scrambled eggs. Once the eggs were slightly warm, I whisked them into the liquid and heated until it reached 170 F (76 C), then strained it and cooled it down completely. A quick ten minute romp in the ice cream machine, and I had some nice, thick and homemade vanilla bean ice cream.
When the crisp was done, well, you know what happens next. Sexy goodness.
~LTG
