Category: Rhubarb

Here is a simple salad dressing using rhubarb. It is tart and sweet thanks to the honey and bright and clingy so it is suitable for heavy greens like kale or sturdy lettuces.

You need only a few ingredients and a blender.

3/4 cup chopped rhubarb
2 garlic cloves or green garlic
1/4 cup of whatever onion you have. I had walking onions, use what you have
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano fresh or dried
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Chop the rhubarb and garlic and onions and put everything except 2 tablespoons of oil in the blender. Blend everything and thin the dressing with the oil you held back. This is a thick dressing!

That’s it. Dress your salad. I used kale and I like to have cheese and fruit or protein in salad so I added feta, dates and pistachios, but use what you like. Apples and chicken would be delicious with this dressing. Use your imagination.

This is a very easy delicious pie to make that keeps well for a day or two in the refrigerator and is a tasty way to use the rhubarb you will be getting in your CSA share this week.

You can use a store bought pie crust or make your own, or honestly leave the pie crust out and have a custard rhubarb dessert that you could scoop into bowls.

Rhubarb Custard Pie Ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350F

• 1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell
• 3 cups (about one pound) rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 T flour
• 1/2 teas salt
• 2 T butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk, half and half or cream depending how rich you want it. I used 1/2 and 1/2 this time. I have never used all cream.

Beat eggs, sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla in a bowl then add milk or cream or 1/2 and 1/2, whatever you are using.  Put Rhubarb on the pie shell and dot with butter, then pour custard over it.  Bake 1 hr 15min in a pre-heated 350F oven until the center of the pie is just set and doesn’t jiggle. It will continue to cook when you take it out a little so a little under done is ok.

Here is my pie in the oven baked about 1/2 through. The edges are just starting to set.

The rhubarb floats to the top but is snuggled in the custard. A lovely pie IMO.

Rhubarb season is fleeting so have some fun with it while it’s here.

Have a great week.

Mo

Rhubarb crisp might be the easiest most delicious dessert there is. I say dessert, but I love having it for breakfast with yogurt.

There are almost 3 million rhubarb crisp recipes on the internet, the ones I looked at are almost all identical. Most include strawberries or apple. I like all rhubarb. You can add different fruit if you like and adjust the weight of the fruit the recipe calls for.

Let’s make a crisp! Gather all your ingredients

For the filling you’ll need;

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb (optional addition of strawberries or apples to total 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of fruit)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping you’ll need;

• 3/4 cup flour, any kind. I used whole wheat. You can use gluten free or all purpose or anything you have on hand.
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons of butter cut very small
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup any nuts you like (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F

Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix and put all the topping ingredients in a separate bowl and mix with a pastry cutter or just use your hands. This picture is before I mixed the topping ingredients.

I had an 8X8 square pan and this fit just fine. You might want to put your baking pan on a cookie sheet if you think it might bubble over.

Put your filling in a baking dish then top with the oat mixture that is really well mixed. It should look like this.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until it’s brown and bubbly.

Yum. Enjoy.

Mo

 

 

 

I have never posted a Fruit Crumble recipe because I figure everyone already has a favorite one. One your mom or grandma made probably. It is of course, interchangeable with any type of fruit or berry and you can serve it with ice cream, whipped cream, egg custard, or just alone.

I was talking with Lauren about crumble, as you do, and she nonchalantly commented how she has her crumble for breakfast, with yogurt.

Mic drop.

Mind blown. How have I never thought of this.

This should be on every breakfast menu.

Use your favorite recipe, add any nuts or seeds to up the protein, or don’t use any if you don’t like them. Use any grains or grain substitute, or make it gluten free.  Use honey, sugar, agave, applesauce, or any sweetener you like. Make it to your liking.

Just make it, and thank Lauren for the great idea.

See you at pickup.

mo

 

 

This week we will have a really hard choice in our CSA share between beets or rhubarb. Ekk. that’s a tough one.

If you choose rhubarb, maybe try this old school dessert.  You can use any any in-season fruit. Peach mousse is especially good.  But today I made rhubarb and strawberry mousse.

You need;

1 1/4 to 1 1/2  pounds of any fresh ripe fruit, washed and finely diced. I used about a pound of rhubarb and about a cup of strawberries
1/2 to 1 cup sugar depending on how sweet your fruit is.
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy cream

To make it;

• Combine the fruit and sugar heavy saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes, until the fruit is soft.
• Pour 2/3 of the mixture into a blender; purée and set aside. I like to have some texture from the fruit in my mousse. If you want it completely smooth mix all of the fruit in the blender.
• Pour 4 tablespoons cold water into a small bowl or sauce pan and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Allow to soften for 10 minutes. Heat gently until the gelatin has completely dissolved. Stir into the fruit purée.
• Combine the purée with the remaining cooked rhubarb mixture.
• Whip the heavy cream until stiff and fold into the rhubarb mixture.
• Pour into a pretty serving bowl or individual dishes. I used glasses and jars and I used my canning funnel to harness the mess.
• Chill for at least a few hours or overnight. Overnight is best.

Here are some photos of the process.

If you put them on a tray to chill in the refrigerator it makes life easier.

I made six individual serving and that was pretty generous. I could have used smaller glasses and made eight servings.

Have a great week. See you at pick-up.

Mo

 

 

I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it. I’m so glad I did. I am not a big dessert eater, but I love making desserts. I love making beautiful delicious desserts, and this, I think, is both.

I followed the recipe in the link pretty closely, but changed a few things.

First, I didn’t use any of the spices she calls for, they seemed to Christmas-y. I doubled the lemon zest and used only vanilla. I served this with whipped cream and after having that I think I will add fresh mint to the whipped cream next time.

Second, I didn’t cook the rhubarb in the pan before adding the batter. I melted the butter and sugar and added raw rhubarb and topped it with the batter. I think cooking the rhubarb first would make it too mushy. Also, several reviewer of the original recipe said the rhubarb was mushy and turned a gray/green color. I am happy with the color and texture I got by not cooking mine first, so I would do that again. I also spread the batter with an off-set spatula. She mentioned that she had trouble spreading the batter and the rhubarb was getting shoved around. I didn’t have any trouble.

Third, because we are high altitude I upped the oven temperature from what is called for in the original recipe to 375F and I cooked it about 15 minutes longer than the original called for.

Fun, delicious, easy, seasonal. This is a keeper.

mo