Poached Blood Oranges

I love blood oranges and they are in season for such a short time.  This year I was in Southern France at the beginning of the blood orange season, and was amazed at the intensity and juiciness of blood oranges fresh from the tree compared to those that I can buy at a grocery store in Toronto.   If I had stopped and thought about it,  I shouldn't have been surprised, because I always celebrate  the intensity of Ontario strawberries freshly picked from the field in the summer,  and tomatoes from the garden, still warm from the summer sun.

When I came home, I wanted to recapture that intensity, and so experimented with poaching the oranges.  Not the same as the freshness of the oranges from the tree, however this has quickly become  a favourite winter desert, dead simple to make with only three ingredients. 

8 blood oranges

4 meyer lemons

1/2 cup of honey

Peel oranges and remove all of the white pith and external membrane, being careful to keep oranges whole.   Set aside in bowl, to contain any juice that might bleed from the oranges.

Juice lemons, and put in non corrosive pot.  Add honey and bring to a simmer.  Carefully place oranges and any juice that may of accumulated in the lemon and honey mixture.  Turn oranges every couple of minutes until all sides have been in the poaching liquid for 2 or three minutes.  Do not over cook, being careful not to let the oranges get mushy. 

Remove oranges with a slot spoon to bowl, and reduce lemon and honey mixture by 50%.  It will be very red by this time.  Pour hot mixture over oranges and let cool to room temperature.  Serve with biscotti, and or ginger or vanilla ice cream.  

Lemon Honey Polenta Torte

I offered to bring a desert to a garden party, thinking I would have lots of time to make something - and then my flight was delayed. After being away for a week, and an hour before I was to leave for the party, I arrived home to an empty fridge.  There were a few lemons from the week before and some whole almonds.  I turned on the oven, threw the almonds in the food processor, and processed them into a fine grind and I was able to make this and only be a  few minutes late for the party, and the torte disappeared before I had a chance to taste it!

Lemon Honey Polenta Torte

Torte

• 1 cup of soft unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 cup of ground almonds
• 1/2 cup of fine cornmeal
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• zest of 2 lemons

Syrup

• juice of 2 lemons 
• 1 whole lemon
• 1/4 cup of honey

Preheat oven to 350F

Beat butter and sugar together until soft and creamy.  slowly add honey while beating.  Add one egg at a time and continue beating until smooth and a pale yellow.  

Mix ground almonds, cornmeal, lemon zest, and baking powder together.

Fold in dry ingredients 1/3 at a time.

Line the bottom of 8" spring pan with parchment paper and butter the sides.  Spread batter evenly over bottom of pan and bake for about 40 minutes.  The cake  is ready when it has pulled away from the edge of the pan and is golden.  Take cake out of oven and cool slightly.  Remove from spring pan and place on plate.  

While the cake is cooking combine honey and lemon juice over low heat on stove top.  Slice the remaining lemon into thin slices, removing any seeds,  and add to the  honey/lemon mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Prick the top of the cake with a fork, and  pour 1/2 of the lemon and honey mixture over the top.  Arrange the lemon slices on top, and pour the remaining honey mixture over the top.  Cool and serve.

I have substituted oranges for the lemon, with equally good results

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

This has been an incredibly cold spring, however the rhubarb in my garden is right on schedule.   Years ago my mother bought a rhubarb plant for me as a house warming gift for my place in the country.  She loved rhubarb, and believed that no garden was complete without rhubarb.

The rhubarb plant my mother gave me

 Every spring my mother would make a huge batch of rhubarb stew.  She cut the rhubarb stalks into one inch pieces,  sometimes added chopped ginger, covered the rhubarb with water and boiled the combination until it became mushy.  She would then add sugar until the rhubarb stew was no longer tart and season wth cinnamon.  If strawberries were in season, she would also add berries to the mixture.  My mother would eat this compote in a bowl for breakfast, unadorned, for desert with ice cream or whipped cream, and occasionally spread on toast.  As kids, some of my brothers, but neither my sister nor I, tolerated eating the rhubarb stew. As an adult, I look back and think it was the mushy stringy mess that that was less than desirable rather than the rhubarb itself, unless rhubarb, like liver, is an acquired taste, and something I have grown into over the years.  I recently attended an event where the chef at the new restaraunt in Creemore "The Creemore Kitchen" spooned a similar concoction between split merranges and served with whipped cream.  It was delicous.  

The thing about rhubarb is that if you don't pick it, the stalks get large and stringy and the plant goes to seed.  Once the plant goes to seed, it is not nice to eat, and since my plant gets larger every year, there is a steady supply of rhubarb at this time of year.

I have served rhubarb crumble a few times this spring, once with cranberries and now that the first Ontario strawberries are available at markets, with strawberries and of course with Mad River Ice Cream from the 100 Mile Store in Creemore

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

serves 4
preheat oven to 350F

• 2 cups of rhubarb,chopped into 1" pieces
• 2 cups of strawberries cut in half
• 2 large tablespoons of honey, I use my neighbour's honey
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of finely chopped or grated ginger

Crumble Topping

• 2 tablespoons of rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons of coarsely sliced/chopped raw almonds
• 2 tablespoons of finely ground almonds
• 2 tablespoons of brown rice flour
• 2 tablespoons of cold butter cut into small chunks
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

In a small casserole dish, approximately 6 inches in diameter, layer rhubarb, then strawberries, add dabs of honey on top and then sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger.

In a separate bowl, mix topping dry ingredients.  Add honey and butter and mix with fingers until mostly small lumps.

Spread crumble evenly over top of fruit mixture.  bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until top is golden and fruit is bubbling around edges.

Baked Pears

While the salad was being prepared and the table set, I realized I had no desert for my dinner guests. Some very ripe pears were sitting on the counter that needed attention and so I thought I would try baking them like apples.  They were ready just in time for desert.

Baked Pears just out of oven

1 pear per person, plus a few extra just in case
1 tablespoon of maple syrup per pear
1 tablespoon of amaretto per pear
1/2 tablespoon of butter per pear

Preheat oven to 375F.  Peel pears and immediately immerse in a large bowl with cold water and the juice of one lemon to prevent the pears from oxidizing and becoming brown.  Mix maple syrup, butter and amaretto in baking pan and melt.  Place pears in baking pan, rolling pears in sauce to ensure they are coated on all sides. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes or until the pear is soft.  Turn pears and baste with sauce every 10 to 15 minutes while cooking.  Serve warm with ice cream.  The warm sauce will turn to toffee when drizzled over the pear and ice cream.  

Baked Pear with Ice Cream and  Maple Toffee

Tart Tatin with Cranberries and Maple Syrup

The first time I had Tart Tatin, was at dinner with Bob and Denis, 20 odd years ago.  Bob, who had just returned from a year long sabbatical in France, made a classic Tart Tatin and I loved it.  Bob told me the story about how Tart Tatin was named after the Tatin sisters, who while caramelizing some apples in a frying pan left them unattended, resulting in overdone apples.  Needing to have a desert to serve for lunch at the family restaurant, they rescued the apples by putting a pastry lid on the frying pan and baked it in the oven. The sisters turned the pan upside down onto a plate, and we now enjoy this classic.  I have taken a few liberties and I am guessing that considering the tart's accidental origin, it is perfectly fine to experiment with the recipe.

Tart Tatin with Maple Syrup and Cranberries

I have a number of maple trees in the country and every year make enough maple syrup for my friends and family.  It also means I can use maple syrup instead of sugar.  Maple syrup is fabulous with apples, and, cranberries add a counter balance to the sweetness of the maple syrup.  I like to use a short crust for the pastry on top, but have been known to use frozen puff pastry in a pinch.

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of fresh cranberries
• 3 crisp apples, such as cortland or graney smith, peeled, quartered and cored, then each quarter sectioned into thirds
• pastry (see pastry recipe for lemon tart) or use frozen puff pastry

In a cast iron frying pan, melt butter and maple syrup.  Add cranberries and cook until the berries begin to pop.  Arrange the sliced apples and cook on stove top until the apples begin to caramelize.  Cover with pastry, trim and bake in oven at 425F until golden.  Take out of oven, and flip onto plate before cool.  

 Whipped cream or ice cream complete the desert.  

Last Minute Chocolate Orange Mousse

My neighbours were coming for dinner and I had forgotten to make desert.  This desert is great fall back because it is fast, and being a chocoholic, I usually have good chocolate in the cupboard.  In this case, I had a fabulous dark chocolate with orange bar, and some  very fresh ginger snaps from a local baker at the market.  

Chocolate Orange Mousse with Peter's Ginger Cookie

• 8 ounces of good quality dark chocolate with orange 
• 2 very fresh free range eggs
• 1 tablespoon of orange liqueur
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• ginger snaps

Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in small food processor.  Add the eggs and the orange liqueur.  Put milk and sugar in small saucepan and heat to almost a boil.  Immediately, pour the hot milk mixture into the food processor and blend for a couple of minutes until mixture is smooth.  Spoon into little cups and chill for at least an hour.  Top with half a cookie and serve.

Note:  This recipe works equally well with plain dark chocolate and brandy, , or a dark chocolate with espresso beans and a coffee flavoured liqueur, and topped with berries and or a dollop of cream.  

Pears Poached in Spiced Red Wine

We are in Nice over the holidays, and our friends Ruth and Mark invited us to Christmas dinner with their family.  In Nice, there is a tradition of finishing the Christmas meal with 13 deserts.  The deserts represent the 12 apostles and Christ and are left out, buffet style, to be consumed over the next three days.  We made Poached Pears in Spiced Red Wine and Claire's Tart Lemon Tart (earlier blog) as two of the thirteen deserts.

Pears Poached in Spiced Red Wine

Because we were staying in a short term rental apartment, we only had basic staples such as salt, pepper and sugar.  This provided a guilt free excuse to visit the market one more time to shop for spices as well as pears and lemons.   

There are two great markets in Nice, the Flower Market on Cours Saleya in the old town and the much larger market in Libération.  We went to the Flower Market, which is much more than just flowers with great selections of herbs and spices, as well as fruits and vegetables, and were fortunate to find Secs de Saint Martin Pears.  These are smallish, very firm pears that are perfect for poaching.  

Poached Pears in Spiced Red Wine

• 1 bottle of Cote de Rhône red wine
• 1 1/2 cup of water
• 10 Secs de Saint Martin pears, or other firm small pear
• 8 peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• juice of one lemon
• 3 strips of lemon peel
• 1/2 cup of unprocessed cane sugar

Choose a stainless steel pan that is deeper than the pears and large enough that the pears do not touch each other.  Add wine, lemon juice and water, sugar and lemon peel, and mix.  Add spices and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  

Meanwhile, peel pears with a small sharp knife and remove the core of the pears from the bottom being careful to leave the stem in place.  Cut a slice off the bottom of each pear to allow it to stand upright.

Place the pears in the spiced wine mixture and slowly simmer for for an hour or until the pears are soft. The slower the poaching process, the deeper and richer the red colour and flavour of the pears.  When the pears are done, remove the pears from the poaching broth, and strain the liquid.  Return the liquid to the pot and gently boil to reduce liquid by about 75% or until slightly syrupy.

I prefer serving the pears at room temperature with a bit of the syrup, however my daughter loves them warm, with a big spoonful of whipped cream melting over the top and we have been know to eat leftovers cold for breakfast the next morning. 

My Family's Favourite Apple Pie

Growing up, it was my responsibility to make the apple pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  I have a vague recollection of this pie evolving from something my father's mother would make for us.  My grandmother was French Canadian, but lived in Kitchener when I was growing up.  I remember visiting her in the summer for a week at a time and travelling up and down country roads to visit different Mennonite farms, buying apples from one farm, a chicken from another, butter and eggs from from somewhere else.  It was on one of these summer visits that we made a version of this apple pie together.  The pie has evolved over the years, and is now less sweet.  

My siblings still expect me to make this apple pie for family events, to the point that when my daughter and I were out of town for Christmas last year, I think my family seemed to miss the pie, or at least the topping more than us.  

My Family's Favorite Apple Pie

Pastry for a Single Crust

• 11/4 cups of pastry flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter
• 1tablespoon of lemon juice 
• 3 tablespoons of cold water

Sift flour and sugar into a bowl, cut butter into small squares and cool again in the fridge.  Add to flour and cut into flour.   Mix lemon juice and water together.  Sprinkle half of water over over flour mixture and gently mix with fork, continue to add fluid until the the mixture holds together.  Do not over work. Form into ball and wrap with plastic.  Let rest in refrigerator for at least a half hour.  Roll out and fit into 9 inch glass pie plate.  

Apple Filling

• 6-8 cooking apples, I like Spy or Cortland
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg

Peel apples and cut into large chunks and place in bowl.  Mix with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Some people add sugar, I prefer the pie to be a bit tart as a counterbalance to the sweetness of the topping. Arrange apples in pie plate fitting as snugly as possible to minimize settling.  

Topping

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour

Mix dry ingredients together in bowl.  Cut butter into small pieces and work into dry ingredients with fingers. Handle  as little as possible.  Gently pat chunks of the mixture into flattish pieces, that are not too perfect and place on top of pie, gradually covering the top of the pie. 

Place pie in 375 degree preheated oven and then turn oven down to 350 and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let cool. top should be crisp and apples should not be mushy.    

Aunt Garrie's Tomato Soup Cake

Growing up, my Aunt Garrie made Tomato Soup Cake for family events.  It was something we always looked forward to, partly because of the novelty of a cake made with tomato soup, but also because it tasted very good; and so when she asked what she could bring to the barbecue, I suggested the Tomato Soup Cake.  This recipe was passed down from my great grandmother, to my grandmother, to my aunt, and now she is passing it on to the next generation.

Aunt Garrie with her Tomato Soup Cake with ice cream

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 10 oz. can tomato soup
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup raisins or currants

Sift dry ingredients together.  Whisk  shortening and sugar until fluffy.  Dust raisins and nuts with flour.  Alternately add dry ingredients and soup beating well each time. Stir in nuts and raisins. Mixture will be thick.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes in a greased loaf pan, or 45 minutes in a ring pan.

Grilled Peaches

It's peach season!!!  Local peaches, in six quart baskets, are now everywhere, at all of the markets and grocery stores.  The season is so short, and like strawberries, the local peaches taste so much better.  They are juicy and sweeter, I think, because they have ripened on the tree and not had to travel for days in refrigerated trucks. I do not buy peaches for the rest of the year, because there is just no comparison.

Bob and Denis were over for dinner and there was a fresh basket of peaches sitting on the counter, so we decided to grill them on the barbecue.  They were fabulous.  Bob ran to the corner store for ice cream, and Denis cleaned and added the red currents.  A perfect summer desert, of hot and cold, sweet and tart.

Grilling the peaches is very simple - cut the peach in half, remove pit, and grill face down, on a hot barbecue until caramelized.  It takes maybe 5 minutes, depending on the temperature of the grill.

Canada Day Strawberry and Rhubarb Tart

I currently have  strawberries and rhubarb in my garden. Strawberries and rhubarb are the quintessential early summer combination.  Rhubarb, technically a vegetable, is the very first thing from the garden and as long as it is picked regularly will continue to produce for most of the summer.  Strawberries come later, but are worth the wait.  There is nothing like Ontario strawberries fresh from the field.  They taste like a completely different fruit than the strawberries that come from the southern US and Mexico.

Growing up, we always had rhubarb in the garden, and would often pick buckets of strawberries in a "pick your own" strawberry field to make strawberry jam for the rest of the year, and then indulge in the left over bucket of strawberries, for the next few days -  strawberries and milk for breakfast, strawberry short cake,  strawberry and spinach salad, and my mother's favourite was always strawberry and rhubarb stew.  

It was Canada Day and I so it seemed appropriate to refer to Rose Murray's  book, " A Taste of Canada"  and her recipe for Strawberry and Rhubarb Tart for inspiration.  

Canada Day Strawberry and Rhubarb Tart

Pastry

• 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons of ice water

9" tart pan with removable bottom

Sift together dry ingredients.  Cut butter into small pieces and put in flour.  Cut butter into flour until a light crumble.  Gradually stir in cold water adjusting amount until the correct consistency.  Form into flat ball, and roll and fit into 9" fluted tart pan. Prick bottom with fork, and cover with parchment paper, and weigh down bottom.  I use my daughters old marbles, but dry beans or rice also work. 

Bake at 425F for 8 minutes, Remove weights and parchment paper and put back in oven for another 5 to 8 minutes.  I protect the edges by reusing the parchment paper and placing it lightly over the tart.   Cool and remove from tart pan.

Filling

• 4 cups of chopped rhubarb
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of port
• 1/2 cup of black current jelly
• 4 cups of fresh hulled strawberries

Glaze

• 4 tablespoons of current jelly
• 1 tablespoon of port

Combine brown sugar, port and jelly in heavy sauce pan.  Add rhubarb and cook over low heat, storing until the sugar, jelly and port are fluid in constancy.  Turn up heat, storing often, until the rhubarb is a mushy constancy, about 10 minutes.  Cool.

In small pot, heat current jelly and port for glaze.

Fill shell with rhubarb mixture, arrange strawberries, point up in filling, and paint strawberries with glaze.  

This tart is fabulous on it's own, however whipped cream or vanilla ice cream as a compliment push this desert over the top. 

Rose's Outrageous Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream

Rose, her brother and her father came over to pick cherries, cherries and more cherries from my very heavily ladened cherry tree, and then invited me for dinner the next night.  Rose, who at nine years of age, has mastered the fine art of making ice cream, made the most outrageous Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream for desert, and  generously agreed to share her recipe

Rose's Outrageous Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream,            photo by Rose

• 1/4 cup of shaved chocolate, Rose used Dark Callebaut chocolate from Belgium
• 2 1/2 cups of pitted Bing cherries
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of heavy whipped cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla, (if you are not a 9 year old you may want to substitute 1/4 cup of something alcoholic like Kier, Brandy or Amaretto to soak the cherries in to keep them from freezing solid)

Whisk eggs, and slowly whisk in sugar, add milk and cream and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture simmers.   Put mixture in ice cream maker and churn until almost stiff.  Add cherries,(if you have soaked them in alcohol, pour off any excess alcohol before adding to cream mixture) and chocolate and churn for one more minute.  Place in freezer and cure for a few hours.  

A Variation on my Award Winning Cherry Pie

This year's bumper crop of cherries

There was a cherry tree in my back yard when I first moved in, and over the years it has matured into a large and beautiful tree that shades the yard and produces a bounty of cherries in June.  Time to make cherry pie. 

As a young girl, my mother decided I should be a home economist and in order to prepare me, entered me in baking competitions.  While other kids would practice the piano or go to dance lessons, or hang out and play, I would come home after school and practice baking.  I would bake the same recipe with a slight variation,  cut out a wedge, examine the consistency,  taste and then wrap up and put the experiment in the freezer and start all over again.  Cherry Pie was one of my Red Ribbon winners, and so, after not having made the recipe for years, I took down my old recipe book from the top shelf and baked it once more.


The recipe from my youth used frozen cherries, so working with fresh cherries required some adjustment, and then it was sweeter than I would bake it now, so I modified the recipe once again, and then I substituted Amaretto for the almond extract.  I am not sure it would win the red ribbon, however it does feel right now.

My less than perfect cherry pie.  I am definitely out of practice. 

Preheat oven to 375F

Pastry

• 2  1/2 cups of sifted pastry flour
• 1/2 cup of ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 cup of cold butter
• 5 to 6 tablespoons of cream
• 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract

Mix dry ingredients, and cut in butter.  Mix cream and almond extract. Gradually stir in cream mixture until mixture holds together.  Do not overwork.  Split in half and form into two flat balls.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate while preparing filling. 

Cherry Filling

• 5 cups of pitted Bing cherries
• 1/4 cup of Amaretto
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch

Add Amaretto and lemon juice to cherries and let rest for half an hour.  Mix sugar and corn starch together.  Add a bit of water to make paste.  Drain liquid from cherries, and mix juice with corn starch mixture.  Heat over hot stove until clear.  Add cherries and set aside.

Roll half of the pastry and place in 8" pie plate.  Add cherry mixture.  Roll other half of pastry and cut into strips.  Weave lattice on top of pie.  Cover edges of pastry with foil, and bake for 40 minutes. 

Claire's Tart Lemon Tart

Claire's Tart Lemon Tart with Debbie's Birthday Lilacs

Claire saw a picture of this tart in a magazine when she was eight and made it for a family function.  Since then, it has become her specialty and, it is expected that she bring it to all family events.  When she was younger, she made the filling and I made the pastry.  I occasionally still help with the rolling of the pastry.  This is very lemony and a bit tart, unlike the more typical, sweeter and custardy lemon tarts.  A small sliver complimented by seasonal fresh berries is a perfect end to a spring meal.

Pastry for 8" tart pan

• 1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon of organic sugar
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten

Combine flour and sugar, cut in butter.  Add 2 tablespoons of cold water to egg mixture and stir into flour, handling as little as possible.  Add more water if needed for pastry to hold together.  Form into  flattened ball and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Lemon Curd

• 4 large egg yolks plus 1 whole egg slightly beaten
• 1 cup of organic sugar
• 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, approximately 3 lemons
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a heavy pan, strain the egg yolks and the whole egg through a sieve.  Add the sugar and lemon juice and mix.  Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly and the mixture covers the back of the spoon.  Remove form heat and add the butter, one piece at a time and stir until mixed in.  Add lemon zest.  Cover with sedan wrap until ready to use.
      
Heat oven to 375F
Roll pastry.  We like it to be thick, maybe a 1/4 inch or so.  Fit into tart pan, line foil or parchment paper, and fill with pastry weights.  We use Claire's old marbles, but beans or rice also work.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and weights and cook for another 10 minutes or until golden.  After the pastry has cooled, add lemon curd and place back in oven for another 10 minutes or until the curd has set. 
   

Port Rhubarb and Apple Crisp

 Rhubarb was the first plant in my garden that could be picked this year.  Last weekend as part of our goodbye winter dinner, we made a rhubarb and apple crisp using an open bottle of port, that had probably been in the fridge a little too long, to supplement the sweetener.  At dinner we had a conversation about whether it was a  crisp, crumble or a cobbler, and eventually decided on 'crisp' because the topping did not use flour as you would in a pastry,  but rather, was coarser with an oat base and not crumby. After doing some research, I think we weren't too far off the mark.  I liked Canadian Living's approach which suggests that it really doesn't matter, call it whatever you like, however I found a more precise explanation on OChef that I also found useful.

The desert was a success, with the help of a generous scoop of Mad River Co, Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream.  I think this is the best vanilla ice cream ever. The only place that I know of, that I can buy it, and only sporadically, is at the 100 Mile Store in Creemore.

Port Rhubarb and Apple Crisp

serves 4
heat oven to 350F

• 4 stocks of rhubarb, cut into 1" pieces
• 2 apples cut into bite some chunks
• 1/4 cup of port
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

topping

• 1 cup of oats
• 1/4 up of butter
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix the rhubarb, apples, sugar and spices, and port together in a bowl, and put in small loaf pan or serving sized containers that can go in the oven.  Prepare the topping, next.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon with the oats.  Cut in the butter, and press into flat pieces and cover the fruit.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes for individual portions, or 30 minutes for larger pan, or until juices are bubbling.  Serve warm with ice cream.