Cherry and brown butter buckwheat crisp

Put the unsalted butter and the buckwheat groats in a saucepan and cook on the stove, browning the butter and toasting the groats together.

Bring the butter up to a boil so the water in it cooks off and the milk solids toast, caramelize and turn golden brown. The bubbling turns to a golden foam and it smells toasty.

Scrape the mixture out into a medium bowl so it does not overcook, and let it cool.

For the filling, toss the frozen cherries with the granulated sugar, cornstarch, a pinch of kosher salt, the vanilla extract and the lemon zest.

Add the lemon juice and fold everything until the cherries are evenly coated.

Tip the filling into the baking dish in an even layer, scraping in the remaining juices and sugar. Set the dish on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a silicone mat.

Whisk the egg white into the cooled brown butter mixture until it is thick and slightly satiny -- brown butter has no water, so without it there is nothing to develop gluten and the crumble stays soft.

Add the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, cinnamon, dark brown sugar and kosher salt and fold with a spatula until crumbly.

Squeeze the mixture together by hand until there are no floury areas and it holds together.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cherries, squeezing and breaking it up for different sizes of crumb. Use all of it; it cooks down.

Bake at 350 until the juices bubble and the crumble is a solid golden dark lid; tent with foil if it darkens too early.

For frozen cherries it takes a little more than an hour; hers went one hour ten minutes.

Cool uncovered -- overnight here -- until set. Serve with vanilla ice cream.