FRESH TAKES ON RHUBARB
Having a rhubarb patch that yields over 100 pounds of food every summer, is definite impetus to continuously come up with new ways of enjoying it. After the pies and the crumbles, crisps, and jams, I branched out into cookies and ice creams. So what else can you do with rhubarb?
If you open up the field beyond desserts, rhubarb can become quite clever. It’s a foil for rich savory poultry, meats, and cheeses. Cut in thin julienne, and lightly sauteed in olive oil, rhubarb is a clean bracing accent to delicate fish and shellfish. It can play nicely with other vegetables and fruits. It’s delicious to drink.
Photo: Deb Hall, A Mad River Valley Blog
My rhubarb patch grows, like an island, in the middle of an open grassy field on the family farm in upstate, New York. It’s a springtime icon. We always harvest and freeze about 2 gallons of rhubarb pieces so we can enjoy it all year long. We meter it out over the winter, grudgingly giving up and eating the last bit in March and April, anticipating May, when it will come again.
Rhubarb is a vegetable that tastes like a very tart fruit. I love the colors of its long celery like stalks, pale celadon green at one end and hot pink at the other, ombre’d in the middle between the two. The plant grows broad gently wrinkled and poisonous leaves, which shade its stalks as they grow. Also known as the pie plant, rhubarb is most often found in pies, often paired with strawberries.
Most recipes call for lots of sugar to tame it’s pucker, but I always cut back on the sugar dramatically. My tongue likes the sharp wake-up and appreciates the sour end of the sweet spectrum.
Photo: Shira, Triple Red Cobbler with Pistachio Streusel
Triple Red Cobbler with Pistachio Streusel
Filling:
4 cups rhubarb cut into 1” chunks
2 cups strawberries
½ cup dried OR 1 cup fresh red rose petals (unsprayed)
½ tsp. rosewater
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
Batter:
1 ½ cups flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsps. sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup buttermilk
Streusel:
½ cup chopped pistachios
1 Tbsp. butter melted
¼ cup sugar
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in rhubarb pieces. Mix in rose petals. Mix in rosewater.
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Butter a deep casserole dish or souffle dish. (8-10” diameter) Pour fruit mixture into dish. Set aside.
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Mix dry ingredients in a food processor with metal blade. Cut in butter until fully dispersed. Pour in buttermilk and process until a soft dough forms.
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Drop spoonfuls of the dough on top of the fruit in the baking dish.
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Mix together nuts, butter and sugar. Scatter on top of dough.
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Bake for 45 minutes or until fruit is tender and cobbler top is golden brown.
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Serve with cream, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Photo: Oui, Chef, Frozen Rhubarb Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
One of my favorite places to find beautiful rhubarb (and lots more) recipes and photos, is Food52, a wonderful website, founded by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, that celebrates home chefs in high style. Their community members post scrumptious original recipes and the site runs recipe contests weekly. Food52’s “Your Best Rhubarb” contest yielded some are extraordinary versions of classics, like Rhubarb Strawberry Pie for Potluck, by MrsWheelbarrow (aka Cathy Barrow). Check out gorgeous twists, like heavy cream-laced Naughty Rhubarb Scones, by Midge, and the impossibly perfect mouth-party, Frozen Rhubarb Mousse with Strawberry Sauce, by Oui, Chef (aka Steve Dunn).
Photo: James Ransom, Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries
Some recipes are super-interesting, even quirky, like Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries, by Ladystiles (aka Michelle Stiles, of The Beauty of Life blog), which won as Food52 Wildcard winner. It is an alchemistic blend of the red fruits, maple syrup, vermouth, and salt. And it transforms everything, from ice cream to cheese to salmon, into a magical agrodolce experience.
Rhubarb always makes spring more beautiful. Gotta go have some of that cobbler I just made, right now!
