By Mid-April and the pandemic has a different shape this week. The vaccine numbers are up. The state has opened to all adults. The floor has been managing the census well. There is something that might, carefully, be called normalcy beginning to assemble at the edges of things -- not the old normal but something functional and livable. I am trying not to name it too early. I have learned this year that naming things too early costs something.
Nora at twelve and a half months is in the phase where everything is a game requiring participation. She hands you a toy. You take it. She takes it back. She hands it to you again. This can go on for seventeen minutes. I have timed it. She finds this arrangement excellent. Liam at this age went through the same phase. I did the seventeen-minute toy exchange with him too. I know more now about the developmental reason for it. I do the exchange more patiently because I know it is a conversation about object permanence and reciprocity. She is learning that things return. That people return. That the world is reliable enough for exchange.
Sean has been talking to his site foreman this week about a project in Quincy -- a big residential build, eighteen months. He mentioned it at dinner with the particular tone that means he wants to drive by the neighborhood. We drove by on Sunday. The streets were quiet in a good way. I said "I like it here." He said "I know." That's where we are with the house dream.
Strawberry rhubarb crisp on Saturday because the rhubarb appeared at the farmers market and I am constitutionally unable to let rhubarb pass without doing something with it. The tart-sweet combination is spring in a baking dish.
The rhubarb at the market was what started it — that insistent, stubborn red that shows up before anything else and dares you to do something with it. I didn’t have everything I needed for a proper crisp, but I had fruit, I had butter, I had time while Nora was napping and Sean was out. Hot curried fruit is one of those dishes that sounds fancier than it is and delivers more warmth than you expect — spiced and sweet and a little sharp all at once, which felt right for a Saturday that was itself a little tentative, a little hopeful, not fully named yet.
Hot Curried Fruit
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz) sliced peaches, drained
- 1 can (15 oz) sliced pears, drained
- 1 can (15 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
- 1 can (15 oz) apricot halves, drained
- 1 jar (10 oz) maraschino cherries, drained
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart baking dish.
- Layer the fruit. Arrange the drained peaches, pears, pineapple chunks, apricot halves, and cherries evenly in the prepared baking dish. Pat the fruit dry with paper towels first if it seems especially wet — this keeps the sauce from going thin.
- Make the spiced butter sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, curry powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the mixture is smooth and fragrant.
- Coat the fruit. Pour the butter and spice mixture evenly over the layered fruit. Use a spoon to gently turn the fruit so every piece gets coated. The sauce will pool at the bottom — that’s exactly right.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 30–35 minutes, until the fruit is heated through, slightly caramelized at the edges, and the sauce is bubbling and thickened. The kitchen will smell like warm spice and butter.
- Rest and serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm as a side dish alongside ham or roasted chicken, or spoon over vanilla ice cream or pound cake for dessert.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 37g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 20mg