My pumkin and apple crumble recipe in the Guardian

The Guardian's new food magazine - issue 3

Recently I heard about a "Readers' recipe swap" in the Guardian's new magazine about food and drink called "Cook". Every week, food writer Felicity Cloake chooses a theme and invites recipe suggestions. The best tried-and-tested recipes will appear in the following Cook issue. I think it's a great idea! When I heard about it, the current theme was crumble. Vaguely remembering a sweet, spicy, warming and comforting crumble that I cooked a year ago on a cold winter day, I decided to send it to the Guardian. And two weeks later, I was told it would be published as the winning dish! I was very very pleased. You can see the article and a photograph of the dish taken by the Guardian's photographer here.

The recipe is a sweet pumpkin and apple crumble. I added some apples for extra freshness and replaced half the butter with rapeseed oil, which gives it a nice nutty taste and adds some omega-3 fatty acids. The Guardian called it an innovative take on pumpkin pie and wrote further: "The combination of sweetly spiced squash, tart apple and a nutty, treacly topping is inspired"! 

Here is the recipe to serve 6:

•    400g pumpkin
•     2 star anise
•    2 British apples, such as Cox
•   10 Medjool dates
•   50ml British runny flower honey
•   30g walnut pieces
•   75g  plain white flour
•    75g fine oatmeal
•   50g unsalted butter
•    50g rapeseed oil
•   100g dark muscovado sugar
•   1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Peel and cut the pumpkin into small chunks and place into a buttered ovenproof dish. Break the star anise into little pieces and mix with the pumpkin. Drizzle with 25ml of the honey and bake for 10 minutes. 
2.  Meanwhile, peel the apples and cut them into cubes. Remove the stones from the dates and cut them into thin slices. When the pumpkin has softened a bit, add the apples, dates, remaining honey and walnuts to the dish and toss well.
3.  Prepare the crumble: In a food processor or with your fingertips, combine the flour, oatmeal, butter, oil, sugar and cinnamon to crumbs and sprinkle on top of the pumpkin / apple mix. Bake for 30-35 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. I would serve it with home-made custard or simply a dollop of crème fraîche.