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Fat dog and a rhubarb crumble

Four-legged-friend needs to go on a diet. He is perfectly happy with the expanding-waistline-due-to-excess-food situation; oblivious apparently that his lack of enthusiasm for games of chase or fetch is attributable to his heaviness and resulting slow gait; and ready to top up his constant insatiated appetite with the occasional geriatric rabbit. We on the other hand, unfairly compare him with his nephew who is slight of frame and fast and bounces.




Four-legged-friend has never bounced. To be fair he has a huge head and a big barrel chest, but his girth currently resembles a mare heavy with foal.




It is not helped by his recent propensity for discovering unopened sacks of dog food. And ripping them open. And gorging himself.

I guess he could be hypothyroid or have worms. I suspect however that it is simply greed. And a limitless, Labrador lust for food

He eats everything - from rabbit droppings, to potato peelings, to wellington boots, to leather shoes. They make a good team: nimble criminal mastermind, Baggins, steals the bounty and by devious skulking in corners,  and hiding behind the furniture, delivers it to the boss, FLF. Who promptly puts it in a safer place, from where it can't be retrieved without a lot of mess.

I have failed in the eyes of the shoe-protection-league, but my fence around the rhubarb has allowed it to recover from repeated over-zealous canine chewing. With the result that we had our first rhubarb crumble of the year.

Gluten-free rhubarb and strawberry crumble:

Pull, de-leaf, clean and chop rhubarb into 1cm pieces (ignore the pulling and de-leafing bit,  if you bought it). Scatter across base of a deep-sided oven dish.
Clean and chop strawberries. Scatter over rhubarb pieces.
Half an orange and squeeze juice over the fruit.




In a separate bowl, mix equal parts of A and B, where A is gluten free flour, plus gluten free porridge oats, plus ground almonds and B is a mixture of demerara sugar and soft brown sugar. Add a little cinnamon powder.
To this bowl, add melted butter.




You need enough so that the mixture resembles sticky breadcrumbs when fully mixed. You can use your hands to mix, but I prefer a large spoon.




Lightly sprinkle the crumble mix over the fruit. Fork over it gently to break up any large clumps. Don't press down.




Bake uncovered in the oven at 180deg for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove when top is crunchy and golden.

Serve with custard or really good vanilla ice cream and a generous portion of friends.



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