Plum Crumble

The colleague who gave me lots of lovely runner beans also gave me lots of lovely late plums. My Mum's Victoria Plums were done by the middle of September but thse seemed to have gone onto the beginning of October. They looked a bit like Victoria's in shape but were much darker skinned and had greeny flesh. They were however, delicious, whether eaten just as they are or made into something, but they did go off very quickly as with most plums. So in an effort not to waste any I made plum crumble. This was lovely and tasty and the plums went all scrummy and jammy.

Plum Crumble (from What to Eat Now - Valentine Warner)
(Serves 6)

For the filling
butter, for greasing
12-15 large ripe plums, stones removed, chopped
1/2 lemon, juice only
160g caster sugar

For the crumble
175g plain flour, sifted
50g caster sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
100g butter, cold, cut into cubes
100g rolled porridge oats
2 lemons, zest only

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 30cm square ovenproof dish.

Place the plums and lemon juice into the bottom of the dish and sprinkle with the sugar.

For the crumble, rub together the flour, caster sugar, muscovado sugar and cold butter cubes in a bowl until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the oats and lemon zest and mix well.

Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the plum mixture, then bake in the oven for 40-45 mins, or until the topping is golden-brown. Serve with ice cream.