overdue rhubarb recipes…

I know I promised rhubarb recipes to about 100 people last week, and my apologies for the slow turn around time…but as you’ve likely learned by now, this is fast for me!  Here’s two of our favourite ways to eat ‘barb around here:

1. Simply Stewed

this one’s the definition of easy peasy:

cut up your rhubarb (as much as you want!) and throw it in a pot as big as you need.  add a little bit of water in the bottom to prevent sticking, and turn on med/high.  stir often.

once you get some breakdown action, just turn down the heat to med/low, and let it stew, stirring occasionally to help it breakdown and keep it from sticking.  add whatever kind of sweet you like until it tastes good (our favourite is maple syrup – try Milo’s smokey for something extra special!)   Continue to stew and stir until it’s a consistency you like, then eat it up – on everything!  Great with yogurt, granola, icecream, nuts n fruits, or all alone…really, really great.  A wonderful thing to put away for those cold, dark, rhubarbless winter months…

you can add anything else in there to make it extra special – strawberries, sour cherries, cinnamon (I’d suggest ChocoSol’s horizontally traded Mexican cinnamon if you can get it – seriously the best cinnamon I’ve ever had!), cloves, fresh ginger…it’s pretty hard to go wrong with stewed rhubarb!

2. Voort’s Classic Rhubarb Custard

this is a family fave – doesn’t really ever hang out long enough to get a picture…but I’ll try!

3 eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar (i actually replace this with 1 to 1 1/4 cup maple syrup.  I actually replace everything with maple syrup…)

1 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 Orange juice (if using maple, just leave this out – or replace with any other juice you have!)

beat eggs, then stir in remaining ingredients one at a time

fill pie shell with cut up rhubarb (2-4 cups, depending on the size of your pie plate), then pour custard mixture over top. (you can add any other fruits in here as well – try strawberries, sour cherries – basically any berries you still have in your freezer…amazing)

(my favourite pastry is butter pastry – can you go wrong with butter? – 1 1/2 cups flour (I’ve used the red fife, all purpose, spelt and buckwheat here – all good!), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 lb cold butter, 3-5 tbsp ice water – mix flour & salt, cut in butter, add ice water until it’s a ball.  refrigerating for a few minutes really helps the roll-out.  makes 1 shell)

bake at 4oo degrees for 15-20 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 and bake 30-40 minutes more or until custard is set.

let it cool until you can put it in your mouth without burning yourself…then watch the pie go.  likely best to make at least 2…

happy rhubarb eating!  if you’ve got any favourite rhubarb recipes or pics of your own, please do share them with us!

sh