Whenever there are lots of green tomatoes in the green house, basically once a year, I make green tomato crisp.  The standard recipe I use is up on the blog here.  Now however, with school started for the small person of the household, no more apples nor tree nuts of any kind.  So the recipe needed a reboot…  And this is it.  I adore the contrast of low-key green tomato against the super-sweet dried fruits and the tender but dry texture which makes for no mess in the lunch box.  If you would like more sauce, then feel free to add some water or juice and perhaps a bit of lemon + zest to the fruit mix to get that happening in the bottom layer.

Yield: a 9″x13″ dish

What you need for the filling:

• 1-1/2 cups of quartered, unsulfured, dried apricots
• 1-1/2 cups dried mulberries
• 7 cups diced green tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
• a pinch of ground mace (or nutmeg if you don’t keep mace kicking around)
• a pinch of ground cardamom seed (sorry, there’s not real substitute for that one)
• 1-1/2 tablespoon maple syrup

What you need for the crumble topping:

• 1-2/3 cups rolled oats
• 2/3 cups chickpea flour (besan)
• 1/2 cup sprouted buckhwheat
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup red palm oil (organic and sustainable sourced or don’t use it please, sub with coconut oil if necessary – but if you can get it, it adds a subtle sweetness and beautiful sunny colour)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup oat milk (or other non-dairy milk)

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a bowl, mix together the rolled oats, chickpea flour, sprouted buckwheat, sunflower seeds and salt.  Cut in the red palm oil with two knives or by mashing with a fork until coarse crumbs form.  Add the maple syrup and keep mashing until uniform in texture.  Mix in the oat milk and then put the bowl in the fridge to set a bit while preparing the filling.
3. In the 9”x13” baking dish, mix together the apricots, green tomato and mulberries.  Sprinkle the dried spices and maple syrup evenly overtop and mix again.
4. Take the crumble topping out of the fridge and spoon it clumpily (I love that word) and evenly over the filling.                                                                                                    
5. Bake 40 minutes.
6. Let cool 10 minutes at least before serving warm or at room temperature.  Leftovers can be stored in the fridge a few days.  When serving, let come to room temperature first, the topping should stay semi-crispy (if you microwave it, it will all go mushy, so just don’t go there…)