Synergy Farm Recipes: rhubarb

Showing posts with label rhubarb. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Rhubarb Onion Sauce

Lemon roasted chicken with rhubarb onion sauce, roasted asparagus, and beer braised green cabbage.

This recipe for this sauce was guessed at based on this blog post, with its painfully unspecific description. I'm not actually sure the method behind this is sound (I dry sauteed a small onion. Is that done?) but it turns out delicious, so I am going to stick with it.

1 small onion, well-chopped
2 stalks of rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed chili
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a small non-stick frying pan, saute the minced onion till dried out and browned a bit. Set this aside. In a small saucepan combine the sugar, red wine vinegar, and water over medium heat. Heat to a boil, stirring to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. When it begins to boil, sdd the rhubarb and dried crushed chili. When the rhubarb begins to fall apart, add in the onions and let it simmer till the rhubard has completely fallen apart and the sauce reaches a thickened jam-like consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Eat with fish, chicken, cheese (yes, I dipped a piece of cheddar cheese into this sauce.)
Stir in a generous amount of chopped mint before serving. Strange, I thought, but excellent.

The dry-sauteed chopped onion. Possibly sketchy technique.

The rhubarb is beginning to fall apart. Time to add the onion and simmer till thick.

Rhubarb Currant Chutney

Mmmmmmm..... The original recipe for this recipe is way too sweet for my taste, but very correctly paired with pork tenderloin, so I served this to guests with Lopez pork chops and a side of butter braised broccoli.

Adapted from Bon Appetit and brought to my attention by my friend Stacey Slate

1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 cinnamon sticks (each about 2 1/2 inches long)
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces fresh rhubarb
1/2 cup dried currants

Directions:
Bring first 6 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add rhubarb and currants; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently until rhubarb is has tender and then has fallen apart, 5-10 minutes. Season chutney with salt. (Chutney can be made 3 days ahead. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before using.)

Beginning to fall apart, but not there yet, and definitely still needing to thicken.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Rhubarb Crisp

2 lbs rhubarb chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup Bill's Honey
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
4 ounces cold unsalted butter (1 stick) cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
1 cup sliced almonds

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the rhubarb base layer, place the 2 lbs of rhubarb into a 11 x 7 inch baking dish and stir in the honey. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of flour over the rhubarb and stir to coat.

For the crisp topping, cut the butter into 1 cup of flour in a mixing bowl. Just use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until pea sized chunks of butter remain. Then stir in the sugar and almonds. Sprinkle topping over the rhubarb base. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with a scoop of Lopez Creamery vanilla ice cream.
Drizzle whipping cream over the serving of crisp.
If you are a fan of tart, dollop some plain yogurt on top.

Variations:

Add 2 tbsps chopped crystallized ginger and 2 tsps powdered ginger into the crisp topping.
Add 1 tbsp chopped rosemary or 1 tbsp lavender buds into the rhubarb base layer.