Pear and plum crumble

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. Peel and core the pears, then cut a thin slice off each of their bases so they sit flat
3. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean with a small knife  
4. Put the seeds, scraped vanilla bean, lemon juice, sugar and 500mls water in a medium pot and stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves  
5. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to barely a simmer and add the pears
6. Cook for 10 minutes or just until the pears are tender.  Do not overcook or the pears will break up
7. Drain the pears reserving 125ml of the liquid
8. Stand each of the pears upright in a deep, oven proof dish
9. Surround each pear with plums 
10. Mix the reserved plum juice and pear cooking liquid and pour over each dish
11. To make the crumble.  Put oats, flour, almonds and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine
12. Rub the margarine gently into the dry ingredients, just until the texture becomes crumbly
13. Sprinkle the crumble around each of the pears and over the plumbs 
14. Put the dishes on a baking tray and cook for 20 minutes or until the crumble is crisp and golden

This is a delicious recipe from the Deliciously Healthy Cookbook, Heart Foundation, 2001.