Orchard Crumble

I commented to my friends the other day that I’ve really been enjoying the food of the last month or so. I laughed and shook my head when they both responded with, “you mean, U.S. food?” because yes, they’re correct, including this orchard crumble. As much as I love eating anything and everything different, when it comes to what I really crave, especially when the weather cools around this time of the year, I usually veer towards the comforting and familiar tastes of the good old U.S. of A (mom food excepted…paprikash!).

I think one of the other reasons I’ve loved cooking the U.S. so much is that it’s really been two years since I really focused on the tastes of home (birthday weeks excepted). It was that long ago that I kicked off the culinary trip with the very American Midwestern dessert of apple pie ice cream. Ice cream because, as I’ve said before, I don’t really like pie (or prefer fruit desserts). Well, jumping a few weeks late on the everything-apple bandwagon, I borrowed a page from T’s family’s recipe book for an orchard crumble. Yes, it’s a fruit dessert, but no, it’s not a pie. However, warm and wonderful it is, this crumble combines all the flavors of fall: apples, pears and cranberries, and is my return to the U.S. middle.

Better late than never, especially in this case.