You might often encounter dishes like this masquerading as main courses, but fear not, for here we present a hedgerow crumble that’s perfect alongside roast game or fish.
Fired up in our Gozney Roccbox, the most versatile portable pizza oven, showing that it can be used for so many more recipes other than just pizza!
Boasting a crunchy, crumbly topping of rye flour and oats, this recipe is really flexible. What you add to the filling is your call, think leeks, roasted celeriac or parsnips for added vegetable goodness and seasonal wild greens such as blanched nettles as spring beckons and the first shoots arrive!
With interchangeable cheeses like cheddar and parmesan, this dish becomes a clever fridge-clearing solution before your weekly shopping trip—is there anything more satisfying?
And let’s not forget the cream sauce, bound together with a splash of Cosmic Warrior from Redhill based By The Horns Brewing Co, adding a local twist to our hedgerow-inspired creation.
As some of you may have seen on our socials recently, we paired this delightful crumble with pan-fried Venison fallow liver sourced from Cai at Game and Flames, who generously shared insights into deer hunting and population management during a memorable day of stalking.
For the crumble top:
100g rye flour
100g jumbo oats
Pinch Maldon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
80g butter
80g cheddar cheese, grated
Large handful of ground ivy, washed and chopped (you could use any wild greens you like – cleavers, sorrel, wild garlic, three cornered leek, blanched nettles or all of the above)
For the leek and winter green base:
40g butter
One garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large leeks, washed and finely sliced
2 large sprigs of thyme
1 wood aven root, ground to a fine powder (optional – use a pinch of ground clove as an alternative)
25g plain flour
330ml ale or cider
400ml double cream
40g parmesan, grated
200g winter greens (cavolo nero, kale, sprout tops, blanched nettles)
Place the rye flour, oats, salt, black pepper, ground ivy and butter into a large bowl.
Rub the crumble top together until it starts to bind and become crumbly.
Stir through the cheddar cheese and set aside until needed.
Place a large pot of heavily salted water on to the fire and bring to a brisk boil. Prepare your winter greens and plunge into the boiling water. Cook for three minutes just to soften them slightly. Remove the winter greens with a large slotted spoon and plunge straight into ice cold water to stop the cooking of the greens.
Place a large skillet into your pizza oven (we use Gozney Roccbox), preheated to 350℃ and allow to get hot, carefully place in the butter with a little drizzle of oil. Carefully place the leeks, thyme and the sliced garlic into the skillet and pop back into the pizza oven. Allow to caramelise and soften, stirring the leeks every now and again.
Stir in the flour and cook out for a few minutes. Remove the skillet from the pizza oven and place onto a trivet and slowly stir in the cider, place the skillet back into the pizza oven and allow the alcohol to cook off. Stir in the cream and the parmesan until completely combined. Turn off the flame and reduce the sauce a little so that it coats the back of a spoon. Let down the sauce with a little water if it thinks up too quickly. Season to taste with the ground wood aven root and salt if needed.
Remove from the pizza oven and stir in the winter greens. Relight the oven and top the creamy leeks and greens liberally with the crumble top and pop back into the oven.
Cook turning regularly until the crumble has become golden brown, if the crumble browns too quickly turn the flame all the way down or turn off completely for a few moments.
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Make this recipe work for you!
Use any green sort even roasted vegetables in the cream sauce base.
Use any cheese you have knocking around in the fridge too!
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