Montmorency Cherry & Lemon Verbena Crumble with Anise Cornmeal Streusel

This evocative pairing of sour cherries and lemon verbena takes cherry pie to new heights. Add a crunchy cornmeal and anise streusel and you won’t come up for air until you eat the last bite.

This unusual pairing of sour cherries and lemon verbena takes cherry pie to new heights. Add a crunchy cornmeal and anise streusel, and you won’t come up for air until you eat the last bite.

Every year I wait for the all too brief appearance of sour Balaton or Montmorency cherries to hit Portland Farmers Market. Sometimes they appear as early as mid-June and other times as late as mid-July.

The problem is that if you blink, you’ll miss them. While the rest of the market is overflowing with every imaginable variety of sweet cherry, sour cherries may be delegated to a single basket at a single stand. And yes, they’re expensive.

But regardless of the effort and expense it takes to procure them, to my mind they’re the prize of summer. Sweet cherries are lovely, but they don’t have anywhere near the complexity of flavor as sour pie cherries. And they don’t make great pie.

My grandmother had a sour cherry tree in her yard when I was growing up, and she picked it clean every year. She made and froze dozens of cherry pies and canned the rest in syrup, pit and all. We ate the exquisite results all winter long.

These days, I’m lucky if I manage to bake a couple of sour cherry desserts a summer. So whatever I make has to take me another step beyond traditional cherry pie and into new flavor pairing territory. Like this memorable cherry and lemon verbena crumble.

Montmorency Cherry & Lemon Verbena Crumble with Anise Cornmeal Streusel

This evocative pairing of sour cherries and lemon verbena takes cherry pie to new heights. Add a crunchy cornmeal and anise streusel and you won’t come up for air until you eat the last bite.

Ingredient Note   Lemon verbena is difficult to find at the market. But it’s easy to grow in the garden or in a pot on the deck. It’s a wonderful herb to have on hand—flavor wise a cross between lemon peel, basil, anise, and resin all rolled into one powerful wallop.

Anise Cornmeal Streusel  
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup yellow cornmeal (not coarse or polenta grind)
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon anise seed, pulverized using a mortar and pestle
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 4 pieces
1 teaspoon water, cold

Cherry Lemon Verbena Filling
2 cups pitted sour pie cherries (preferably Montmorency or Balaton variety)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh lemon verbena (or finely grated lemon zest)
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1. To prepare Anise Cornmeal Streusel, in a small mixing bowl, combine the flour brown sugar, sugar, and salt.
2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until mixture is evenly crumbly.
3. Combine the vinegar and water and sprinkle over the topping. Mix lightly with a fork, using a lifting motion rather than a stirring motion. The idea is to gently distribute the moisture throughout the topping.
4. To prepare Filling, in a medium mixing bowl, gently combine cherries, lime juice, lemon verbena, brown sugar, sugar cornstarch, and salt.
5. To assemble and bake, butter two 1½ cup ovenproof gratin or soufflé dishes.
6. Divide the cherry filling between the two dishes. Top each dish with half the streusel topping.
7. Arrange gratin dishes on an edged baking sheet, and lay a piece of foil loosely on top.
8. Bake at 350ºF for ½ hour, remove the foil, and bake an additional 20-30 minutes, until filling is bubbling and streusel is nicely browned. If necessary, broil for a minute or so or use a kitchen torch to brown the streusel.
9. To serve, remove from oven, let cool somewhat, and then serve while still warm, preferably with top-notch vanilla ice cream.

Serves 2.

More LunaCafe Fresh Cherry Recipes

• Balaton Cherry & Lime Crisp with Toasted Almond Streusel
• Bittersweet Chocolate & Montmorency Cherry Morning Love Muffins
• Fresh Cherry Primer
• Sweet Cherry & Pea Vine Salad with Basil & Mint

Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.