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If I had to choose one thing that cooking could not make better, I'd have put good money that it would have been a bad (as in unripe and tasteless) strawberry.
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I'd almost be embarrassed even owning up to trying to improve it, were it not for the fact that I read an article by Simon Hopkinson, a revered British chef, in which he advised using said strawberries in a pie.
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So I did.
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Well, that's not quite true: I am lazier than him, so I made a crumble.
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I don't know what, how or why it happened, but this is a crumble of dreams.
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The oven doesn't, as you'd think, turn the berries into a red-tinted mush of slime, but into berry-intense bursts of tender juiciness.
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This is nothing short of alchemy: you take the vilest, crunchiest supermarket strawberries, top them with an almondy, buttery rubble, bake and turn them into the taste of English summer on a cold day.
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Naturally, serve with lashings of cream: I regard this is obligatory not optional.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the hulled strawberries into your pie dish (I use a round one) and sprinkle over them the sugar, almond meal, and vanilla extract.
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Give the dish a good shake or two to mix the ingredients.
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Now for the crumble topping: put the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and rub in the cold, diced butter between thumb and fingers (or in a free standing mixer).When you've finished with it, it should resemble rough, pale oatmeal.
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Stir in the sliced almonds and turbinado sugar with a fork.
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Tip this over the strawberry mixture, covering the strawberries in an even layer and giving a bit of a press in at the edges of the dish.
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Set the dish on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, by which time the crumble topping will have darkened to a pale gold and some pink-red juices will be seeping and bubbling out at the edges.
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Let stand for 10 minutes before serving, and be sure to put a pitcher of chilled heavy cream on the table alongside.
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Make Ahead Note: The crumble can be assembled 1 day ahead.
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Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until needed.
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Bake as directed in recipe, but allowing extra 5 to 10 minutes cooking time and check crumble is piping hot in the centre.
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Freeze Note: Crumble topping can be made and frozen in resealable plastic bags, for up to 3 months.
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Sprinkle topping direct from freezer over fruit, breaking up large lumps with your hands.
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The assembled but unbaked crumble can be frozen, wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil, for up to 3 months.
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Defrost for 24 hours in fridge and bake as above.
