Dining With Guy Picciotto

Kay Bozich Owens and Lynn Owens‘ new book, Lost in the Supermarket: An Indie Rock Cookbook, includes recipes from the likes of Black Dice, Belle and Sebastian, Country Teasers (still keepin’ it classy with a drink called “Red Headed Sluts”), the Mountain Goats, Xiu Xiu, Sonic Boom, and more. I know practically nothing about cooking, and I’d be pretty careful about ingesting anything prepared by a former member of Spacemen 3. But Guy Picciotto’s recipe for rhubarb crumble does sound appealing. Reprinted with permission of Soft Skull Press.

Guy’s Rhubarb Crumble

Serves 6 to 8

Filling Ingredients:

4 cups diced rhubarb, cut into smallish chunks

3 Granny Smith apples

3/4 cup of honey

1-1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon of cardamom

Crumble Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tiny cubes (put butter in freezer briefly till cold and hard)

2 tablespoons of sliced almonds, crushed walnuts, or crushed pecans or all of the above

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Dice the rhubarb into small chunks and peel, core, and cut the apples into thin slices.

3. Combine all the fruit in a big bowl then mix in the honey, cornstarch, and cardamom.

4. Dump the fruit concoction into an 8 x 8 inch baking pan and then smooth out the top with a rubber spatula so it’s nice and even.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

6. Take the cold butter and dice it up into little mini butter squares.

7. Toss the butter square tidbits into the dry topping ingredients. Rub the butter bits into the mix with your fingers just till it forms crumblets. Don’t over rub—you want nice crumbs. Add the nuts and then spread the crumble topping over the fruit filling in the pan.

8. Bake for 55 minutes till the top is nicely browned and the fruit filling is bubbling up like a tar pit.

9. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or as is. Refrigerates nicely.