Peach Crumble By Kainaz Messman

We ask the city’s home chefs, bartenders, food bloggers and gourmands to share their favourite recipes. This week, Kainaz Messman of  Theobroma tells us how to make a peach crumble.

INGREDIENTS FOR CINNAMON CRUMBLE
• 200 grams white flour
• 8 grams cinnamon powder
• 100 grams salted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
• 40 grams brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

METHOD
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• Sift the flour with the cinnamon powder into a bowl.
• Add the chilled, cubed butter and mix it with the flour until the mixture resembles finely crushed biscuit crumbs.
• Add the sugar to the mixture and stir them all together.
• Add milk to wet the flour and gently mix it all together until lumpy.
• Scatter this mixture onto a baking sheet lined with some butter paper and bake it in the oven at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes or till the crumble is golden brown.

INGREDIENTS FOR CARAMELISED PEACHES
• 1000 grams skinned peaches (medium to large size)
• 1 vanilla bean (if you do not have a vanilla bean, you can substitute it with one teaspoon of vanilla extract.)
• 50 grams butter
• 60 grams brown sugar

METHOD
• Peel the peaches and quarter them. Cut each quarter into two pieces.
• Slit the vanilla bean horizontally and remove the pulp.*
• Heat a heavy-based pan. Add the butter to the pan and let it sizzle, but make sure it doesn’t burn.
• Once the butter starts to foam, add the peaches, the vanilla pulp and the bean to the pan. Toss them for a minute, add the brown sugar and turn up the heat to a high flame.
• Allow the sugar to caramelise along with the peaches and vanilla, but be sure to continuously stir the mixture.
• Once the peaches are golden brown, remove them from the flame and leave them aside to cool.
* If you’re using vanilla extract, add it to the peach mixture once it has cooled and is at room temperature. For those using the bean, you have to remove it once the peaches have cooled.

Assembling the crumble
• Use individual glasses or a big bowl.
• Layer the peaches at the bottom of the glass or bowl, sprinkle some of the cooked and cooled crumble on top, put another layer of peaches, and then a layer of crumble, continue this until all the peaches and crumble are used up.
• Be sure to pour all the peach juice that is left in the pan into the glass or bowl.
• Leave the glass of peach crumble to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Chef’s tip: The great thing about this dessert is that it is not too sweet, so the flavour of the peaches really comes through. It pairs really well with vanilla ice cream. If you are eating it without ice cream, have it at room temperature. However, if you do have it with ice cream, heat the peaches in the oven for a few seconds.