Recipe Review: Gluten-Free Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

We flagged this recipe from the Boston Globe a few weeks ago when the weather up here was still gloomy and cold.

But now that temperatures in the 60’s (the 60’s!!!) and farmer’s markets are opening, we thought it was high time to take this recipe for a spin.

Two things caught our eye about this recipe, the first being that it’s gluten-free.

With more and more of our friends needing to cut gluten from their diets, we’re trying to build up a stock-pile of good gluten-free recipes to pull out when they come for dinner. This one uses Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour, which we found at our local co-op (Harvest Coop for the locals).

We were also intrigued to see balsamic vinegar as one of the ingredients for the filling. Balsamic makes a logical bridge between the sour-tart rhubarb and the sweet-tart strawberries. We can’t believe we haven’t thought of it before!

A slightly embarrassing run-in with grade-school math caused us to buy about half the amount of strawberries called for in the recipe, so we ended up cutting the entire recipe in half and making it in a high-sided pie dish instead of a casserole dish. (For future reference, one quart equals FOUR cups.)

This worked out just fine, and it’s good to know the recipe can be halved with no trouble. The recipe says it makes 6 servings, but we felt that half the recipe would be enough for a 5-6 person dinner party. The whole recipe would be good for a larger party or pot-luck.

For our taste, the filling came out a bit too sweet and we felt the rhubarb really got lost in the strawberry. Rhubarb is in season for such a short time, so we really want to spotlight it when we use it in recipes. Next time, we’ll reverse the proportions of strawberry and rhubarb.

Unfortunately, the balsamic flavor we were anticipating also got a bit lost. We’d like to try bumping it up to three or even four tablespoons (for a full recipe). The filling could also use a squeeze or two of lemon to brighten up the flavors and bring everything together.

We thought the topping was more cake-y than crispy. We don’t have extensive experience with gluten-free flour–does anyone know if this is normal?

Overall, this is definitely a recipe that both gluten-eaters and gluten-freers can enjoy, and we’ll definitely keep it around!

For the full recipe from the Boston Globe: Gluten-Free Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Related: Garden Entertaining Tips

(Images Credit: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)