She ain’t much to look at—come on, aren’t we all a little shaggy these days?—but she makes up for any deficits in plate appeal with undeniable belly appeal. This is a moist cake—lightly sweet with tiny, jammy pockets of Tart thanks to baked-in hunks of diced fresh rhubarb—that you’ll enjoy as a breakfast or brunch…
Tag: rhubarb
Roasted Rhubarb Vinaigrette
Last week, I had a few stalks of rhubarb leftover after a crumble-for-two. Before they got lost and rubbery beneath the early-CSA kale, arugula, and spinach in the crisper, I transformed them into a bright and tangy topping for all that early-CSA kale, arugula, and spinach in the crisper. Those sturdy, deep, dark greens demand…
#crumblebrag
Behold, the humble crumble. Not much to look at. Kinda slumpy, really. But this rhubarb-rye dessert’s beauty—warming and comforting and rich and heady with the cool spring’s first harvest—can’t adequately be captured by the camera. For that, you need your nose. And a spoon. Rhubarb-Rye Crumble Sized for two generous portions (with maybe a little…
Rhubarb & Chard (& Mustard Seeds & Sausage)
Okay, so it’s not exactly “Hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” territory, but it’s close. Over high heat, the rhubarb breaks down quickly, dissolving into a sauce that slicks the dark, tannic greens; those tannins—and the rhubarb’s citrusy tang—work to balance the rich sausage; the mustard seeds weigh in with a little pop of…
Blubarb Jam: A Sweet and Slippery Slope
If you’re new to making fruit preserves, blueberries are the perfect gateway. Widely available, rich in their own pectin, and relatively inexpensive, blues are a small-batch-friendly fruit. And with no hulling and no pitting, your prep is pretty much limited to a quick rinse and a scan for stray stems and bum berries. Lovely when sugared…
Hand-Me-Down Muffins, Share-Worthy Curd
Kim Severson’s lovely and poignant Mother’s Day piece in last week’s Food Section sent me sorting through my stash of handwritten, handed-down recipes for one of my favorite fruit-spread vehicles, my mom’s Vanilla Muffins. Fragrant, moist, and simple, these were not muffins you studded with fruit; these were muffins you smeared with fruit. With, say, Aunt Harriet‘s peach butter, made…
Honey-Roasted Rhubarb
The fine folks at Greensgrow Farms recently asked me to guest blog for them on how my garden weathered our extreme winter. I lost four long-established climbing roses, every single perennial herb except some scraggly sage, about half my grapes, and the real heartbreaker: my prolific fig tree. On the bright side, well, my garden’s regained a bright…
Have Pie, Will Travel
We are pie people, my family. Notwithstanding the perennial, nephew-driven, auntie-fueled, Northwoods debate about which permutation of my mother’s cupcakes reigns supreme (yellow cake, chocolate frosting—duh), we generally opt for pie over cake. I make a solid two-cruster (peach-blueberry is my go-to), but in my head, my finished product never can compare to my mother’s…
“Junebug” ice cream
The thought of making ice cream has always evoked for me the smells and sounds of my grandparents’ cellar in Marseilles, Illinois. Even when I use my Cuisinart doohickey with the canister you keep in the freezer so it’s ready when you’re ready, my brain conjures up sharp, minerally rock salt and wet burlap sack,…
Swap-Box Hero: Strawbarb Preserves
One of the perks of being a site host is that you get to scavenge through the swap box at the end of pick-up day. This week, that meant we staff got to divvy up bundles of underloved endive and rhubarb. Thanks, but no thanks on more greens—I got plenty in my own sharebox. But…
Boxing Day 