What Inspires You Wednesday: Making The Most of Seasonal Crops

Rhubarb

Our rhubarb crop isn't actually ours. It's our neighbors. They don't eat it. Which works for us, because we love it.

Before we talk about taste, let's talk about color. It is magnificent. The bright red stalks. The big green leaves. It is one gorgeous plant.

Then there is that wonderful tartness, when combined with sweet is enough to make you salivate.

I usually make rhubarb bread, I've tried rhubarb cake and have also made jam.  I thought it was time to add to my rhubarb repertoire.  So I made a crumble. Oh yeah. A crumble. Or a crunch. Whatever you want to call it.

I baked one for Dad for Father's Day and one of G (aka Mr. Sweet Tooth) and me.

We all thought it came out delicious.

I started with this basic recipe from The Farm Chicks and did a little tweaking because I was missing some of the ingredients. In the end, this is how the recipe turned out.

base:

• 4 cups rhubarb (chopped)
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 plain non-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 sauce:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rinse and chop rhubarb and set aside.

In big bowl mix flour, oats, sugars, cinnamon, butter and yogurt. Press one-half of crumb mixture into a buttered 7"x11" or 8.5"x11" baking dish. (as you can see, I used a loaf pan because I couldn't find my baking dish! It worked just fine.)  Top with rhubarb. Set aside and make sauce.

Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and cold water. Heat on stove until lightly bubbly and thickened. I did it in microwave according to directions but I think stove top would work better.  When creamy looking and a bit thicker, take off stove and rest for a minute to allow to thicken a little more.

Pour mixture over the rhubarb. Top with the rest of the crumb mixture.  Put in preheated 350F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until liquid is bubbling a bit. Take out and rest. Serve plain or with whipped cream or ice cream.

Easy enough, right?

There is nothing like taking advantage of the crops of the season. Fresh, full of flavor. See what I mean?

It makes so much more sense than fighting nature, like trying to find a non-anemic looking tomato in the winter. In-season fruits and veg are as good as it gets. There is still more rhubarb to pick, but I've got to be quick in the next couple of days before it goes to seed. I'm thinking I can even chop, blanch and freeze it.  One way to have seasonal fruits and veg when it's not quite their season.

It's starting to feel like summer here. I've got the AC on for the dog because it's quite humid and he's an old boy of 14.  There is a nice breeze today and I think that will be the saving grace, especially since I'm still getting the pool ready. I so wish it was done.

Today is full with bookwork, design revisions and ad deadlines and more revisions. Kind of like yesterday. What's on your plate today?

Ciao for now,

From The Mercantile Muse Kitchen

Rhubarb Cake

Have I told you my neighbors don't like rhubarb. More importantly, have I told you that we love rhubarb and that our next door neighbors, Lauren and Jay (who happen to not care for it) have a big bed of rhubarb and that we get to take as much as we like? In all fairness, they didn't plant the rhubarb. Our previous neighbor did.

Hello gorgeous.

It was high time I did something with their glorious harvest of rhubarb.

I was going to make my friend's mom's rhubarb bread recipe, but I'm out of brown sugar. So where do you think I went to find a new rhubarb recipe? Yup. Pinterest.

What I found was Oma's Rhubarb Cake on allrecipes.com. 

I baked it last night and it came out pretty darn good. Hot out of the oven we gave it 8 out of 10 stars- we only waited long enough to not burn ourselves while holding a piece. Be forewarned, the fruit inside is hot to eat even when you can hold it. Learned that the hardway.

This morning I thought it had gotten a little bit dry. I think my oven must bake on the high side, so next time I'd check the cake before 45 minutes. Also, I didn't have sour cream and used yogurt instead,which I'd probably do anyways. I like the tangier bite of non-fat yogurt.

The topping really made this cake. Decadent. Golden brown when baked and delicious.

Rhubarb Yogurt Cake ala Oma

1 1/4 cupswhite sugar

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1/2 teaspoonsalt

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup non fat yogurt (or sour cream)

3 cups diced rhubarb

topping:

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cupbutter, softened

1/4 cupall-purpose flour

cinnamon for dusting

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 cake pan (note: I'd be more generous with the greasing than I was). 

 

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt) and mix.  Add wet ingredients (beaten eggs, yogurt- or sour cream if you prefer) and mix until smooth.  Fold in rhubarb a little at a time until it is incorporated into batter. Pour into cake pan and spread evenly.  Set aside.

 

In another bowl mix topping by adding sugar, flour and butter. Mix together with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over entire cake. Dust cinnamon over top if you like.

 

Bake 40-45 minutes. Insert cake tester or toothpick in center to check for doneness. Let rest. Cut and serve. 

 

 

 

All and all, a lovely cake recipe to make use of our neighbors' rhubarb.

 

Do you have a favorite rhubarb recipe? There's still more to be harvested and I hate to see it go to waste. I might do a little searching for a jam recipe, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

 

Raining cats and dogs here. It really lashed overnight. The sump pump is now working overtime.  So glad I cut my peonies before it started to get heavy.

 

Today I'm working on some logo design adjustments, among other things.

 

How about you? What's on your plate today?

 

Ciao for now ,