Recently, my brothers and I took a trip down to the Asheville, North Carolina area for a repeat of our sibling adventures last summer. We wanted to fit in lots of hiking and take advantage of the cool refuge provided by the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains.

Asheville is a food lover’s paradise, with its numerous locally owned restaurants and artisan shops. Many of these places use organically and locally grown ingredients as well. It’s a very green city. While I could spend an entire day (actually, who am I kidding…DAYS) tasting food and indulging in the whole experience of eating there, my brothers would rather hike, which I can understand.

The most perfect compromise of adventure and indulgence was met, however, on one particular hike we took. We had the thrilling experience of coming across an entire valley of wild blueberry bushes. I have read about wild blueberries but I have never had the luxury of tasting them.

Wild blueberries are generally smaller than conventional blueberries and have a delicate, sweet taste. Tasting wild and heirloom fruits and vegetables is exciting to me because they are in an honest, unaltered form. They haven’t been modified for shipping purposes or size. Often times I’ve bitten into a blueberry from the supermarket only to find it has no taste at all.

So back to the berries. Cam and I started picking a few and trying them. We were hooked instantly, as these little suckers are extremely addicting. Who knew you could snack on fruit like this!? We continued our hike but every so often if we came across a bush that was loaded with ripe berries we’d engage in a feast, much to the patience of Kyle.

Now, I ate all of mine as I picked them (that tells you a lot right there). Cam saved some for later and they ended up coming home with us. I didn’t have enough to make a pie with, but I did for a fantastic berry crisp.

I like my fruit desserts to be all about the fruit. Of course the crust and the crumble topping and whatnot are delicious, but in my mind a fruit dessert was made to showcase the fruit, so let it shine. This berry crisp fits the bill perfectly. The topping reminds me of crumbled oatmeal cookie dough that stays soft and chewy on top of the fruit and is sublime with the sweet-tart flavor of the berries.

We ate it so fast I didn’t have a chance to snatch a photo, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Enjoy!

Peak-of-Summer Berry Crisp (Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen)

For the crisp topping:

• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into dice

For the berries:

• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over for stems
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (if berries are very sweet you may want to use less sugar)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For garnish:

• Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To make the crisp topping, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the diced butter to the dry ingredients and blend with a pastry blender or your fingertips until crumbly. Set aside.

In another bowl, gently toss the berries with the sugar and flour. Pour the berries into a 9-inch pie pan or baking dish. Cover the berries with the crisp topping. You may have some topping leftover, which can be frozen for another use! Set on a baking sheet (in case any juices bubble over) and place in the oven until the topping is golden brown and the juices are bubbling, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Spoon generous portions of the warm crisp into wide shallow bowls and top with scoops of ice cream or whipped cream.

Yield: 5 to 6 servings