Savoury crumble topping: a Thermomix recipe

I've been making this for decades but I've never actually written it down.  It's one of those recipes where you just do it by hand until it 'feels right'.  I've posted about it in an earlier entry.

However, I'm adapting recipes for the TM and need more accurate amounts as you don't actually do it 'by hand' at all so yesterday I had a go and below is what I worked out.  If you want to make it conventionally,  rub the butter into the flour, salt, pepper and mustard powder until it resembles fine breadcrumbs and then stir in the finely grated cheese and the oats.

Savoury crumble topping

Ingredients to make a pile (it freezes well)

75 g hard Italian type cheese cubed (Morrisons and Sainsburys sell this in their value range and it is vegetarian friendly) or the genuine article (NOT vegetarian – don’t let recipes or menus that say it is and fool you.  It isn’t)  Or you could use a good strong cheddar.

170g plain flour (could be wholemeal plain if preferred)

70g cubed butter

60g oats

Salt, pepper

1/2 to 1 tsp dried mustard powder

Method.

Put the cubes of cheese in the bowl and turbo pulse three or four times until it is all grated.

Add the flour and the butter and turbo zizz again until it looks like breadcrumbs - about three or four times, 1-2 seconds each time.  It’s very quick.

Add the oats, the salt, pepper and the mustard powder and give it 10 seconds, reverse speed 1

That’s it!  It makes quite a lot and you can adjust the seasonings to taste – and you can taste, it’s quite safe.  Sometimes I add some mixed dried herbs or something like smoked paprika or cayenne instead of the mustard.  It freezes well in a plastic tub and you can spoon off what you needs each time.

Use to make a savoury crumble pie.  Spoon it over savoury mince, a fish in sauce mixture (cheese sauce is lovely and I add broccoli, mushroom, baby corn, etc.,  too), a chicken in sauce mixture, pulses and vegetables in a cheesy sauce – anything that is in some kind of sauce – and bake in a moderate oven until browned and the underneath is bubbling well.  It’s delicious.

If the whole crumble pie is frozen, thaw completely and then bake as above.  If it's just the topping that is frozen, if doesn't need to thaw before baking.

This was fish crumble - salmon and prawns with broccoli, red pepper, mushroom, onion, baby corn and mange tout in a cheese sauce.

Savoury crumble topping

This works really well on lots of different bases.  I tend to use it on savoury mince or on a tomato based vegetable mixture but I have used it to top a creamy chicken and mushroom mixture and it was just lovely.

I've made it so often I just throw ingredients in without measuring so it's a bit hit and miss.  Sorry (again).


Ingredients
About five heaped serving spoonfuls of plain flour (can be wholemeal) depending on how large your serving spoons are - mine are medium sized.
About 60g butter - enough to run into the flour to a breadcrumb consistency.  It might be a bit more, go with how it looks and feels.
some oats - as much as you feel comfortable with, it shouldn;t overwhelm the basic crumble
some finely grated cheese.  I use cheddar or parmesan (or vegetarian equivalent thereof)
Seasoning: always salt and pepper, then maybe mixed herbs, mustard powder, paprika or whatever you fancy (or have in the cupboard).

Method.
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the oats and the grated cheese.
Stir in the seasonings.
Spread over a base and bake at around 180 for about 20 to 30 minutes.

It's really scrummy and makes a change from mashed potato topping.  You can fool yourself that it is quite healthy because of the oats!!
If there's any left over that you didn't spread over the bottom, it freezes nicely and doesn't need defrosting before you use it.

And one day I will get round to measuring things out carefully.