Lesson in Domesticity

I feel as though most people, especially New Yorkers, would prefer to not be described as domestic.  In a city with as much to offer as our own, there seems to be a certain amount of external pressure to be out in there in it, you know, doing something.  And, for the most part, I agree with this.  I love to take advantage of all the cultural and social opportunities New York has to offer, but, at the same time, I also really, really love to take care of and use my own apartment.  Often, I forget how much I enjoy being "domestic," but tonight helped me to fully remember just how happy it makes me to come home to a nice, clean apartment and cook myself a thoroughly enjoyable meal.  

Last week, my CSA (finally) started and earlier this week when I picked up my share of lettuce, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries and oregano, I immediately knew that I wanted to bake something with the strawberries and rhubarb.  Initially, I had hoped to make a pie much like one I made around this same time last year with my friends Angela and Robert, but I soon realized that I didn't have quite enough fruit for a proper filling.  What's a domestic goddess to do? Well, I did some poking around on one of my favorite food/cooking blogs and came across this recipe for a strawberry rhubarb crumble which seemed but easy and delicious.  So, I settled on the recipe and got to work chopping the fruit for the filling, a process which looked a little something like this:

Then, I pulled together the ingredients for the crumble topping, put everything together in a baking dish  and popped it into my oven.  Since I had forty minutes to kill while the dessert cooked, I decided I should probably attempt to utilize some of the other produce the CSA delivered so I made a salad with fresh, locally grown lettuce, topped with slightly sauteed portabello mushrooms, thinly sliced red onion, crumbled goat cheese and just the smallest amount of raspberry vinaigrette.  I coupled this texturally perfect salad with some asparagus sauteed in olive oil and garlic, over which I squeezed some fresh lemon juice during the last few minutes of cooking and topped off with a little lemon zest once plated.  And, if I do say so myself, the colors worked wonderfully on the plate and it looked gorgeous:

Just in time to wrap up the healthiest and freshest dinner I've eaten in a long time, the crumble was ready to come out of the oven.  Here's what it looked like:

Then, after cleaning up the kitchen -- this, by the way, did not take long as a very wise lesson I learned in my grandmother's kitchen is to clean while you cook; it makes the end of meal mess much more manageable and frees up room on the counter/in the sink while you are working -- the crumble had cooled enough for me to indulge in a little (or not) bite.  

Was it good?  Um, hell to the yes.  What I love about the flavors at work in this dessert is the presence of the lemon.  There's the juice of a whole lemon in the filling as well as some zest in the topping and the way the tartness of the lemon works with the sweetness of the strawberries is perfection.  What would I change about this meal if I could?  Well, I'd add some freshly grated Romano cheese to the asparagus and I guess I'd add a little more rhubarb to the filling of the crumble.  The ratio, while delicious, of tart to sweet and crumble to filling seemed just slightly off.  Still, this whole night makes me feel so accomplished, and I'm excited to have re-ignited my domestic interests just in time for all this fresh produce to be delivered to me every week for the next few months.  And, who knows, maybe next time I'll actually take pictures that don't have to show the entire plate in each frame, and, more importantly, invite some people over to enjoy it all with me.  You should all be so lucky.