I may have mentioned once or twice before that I love rhubarb. It is the focus of my only single-subject book. “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb” doesn’t sell a lot of copies except in the spring (now!), at holidays and at the occasional food festival. Even so, it is probably my favorite among my cookbooks.
I favor it because I adore rhubarb.
This vegetable masquerading as fruit has a lot to recommend it. It’s beautiful, with gorgeous red (and sometimes green) color. Its flavor is refreshing and tart.
Best of all, as far as I’m concerned, it’s easy to grow. Once it gets going, in fact, rhubarb is practically impossible to get rid of.
I don’t garden in general. Gardening season is too busy for me to take extra time to plant, weed, and harvest.
In any case, even when I tried really hard, I wasn’t much of a gardener. My produce didn’t always survive, and when it did manage to live, it usually looked pretty darn sad. I prefer patronizing the lovely vegetables and fruits of local farmers to raising the pathetic products of my own brown thumb.
Despite that thumb, I do have a couple of garden patches. One is for herbs so I can snip those flavorful ingredients at will. The other is for rhubarb so I can relish that special plant.
Like many other brightly colored foods, rhubarb is generally good for us. It has a lot of fiber, vitamin K and antioxidants.
The only downside to rhubarb that I can see is that its tartness generally necessitates adding some sort of sweetener to it: sugar, honey or maple syrup.
My late mother used to maintain that sugar in moderation wouldn’t kill us. I knew better than to argue with her then, and I certainly won’t start now that she is only a very vivid memory.
In case I haven’t done so lately, let me explain the proper method of picking rhubarb. I gleaned this knowledge from my late neighbor Florette Zuelke, whose rhubarb patch still thrives almost 20 years after her death.
When you go outside to pick rhubarb, bring along a knife and a bag. The knife is NOT used to cut the rhubarb stalks. Those should be pulled out gently by hand, as horizontally as possible. This helps the rhubarb plants produce new stalks.
Once you have harvested your rhubarb, use your knife to cut the leaves off the stalks right there in the rhubarb patch.
It’s important not to bring the leaves into your kitchen. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous.
They probably won’t kill you. The only murder mystery I’ve read involving used rhubarb leaf poisoning required boiling them down into a toxic concentrate. The leaves could make you pretty sick, however.
I usually place the leaves back in and around the rhubarb plants to mulch them. Then I pop the stalks into my bag and go inside to wash my rhubarb and cook my heart out.
Many people think of rhubarb as reserved exclusively for pies. In fact, it was known as “pie plant” in 19th-century America, and some people still use that nickname today.
I have made a rhubarb pie or two in my day. I prefer other uses, however.
I have made savory rhubarb recipes like pizza, chili and lamb-and-rhubarb stew. That last recipe came from Leyden Glen Farm and is truly amazing. Lately, though, I’ve found myself on a sweet rhubarb kick.
Last week, I needed to bring a gluten-free dessert to a party, and I adapted my favorite rhubarb crumble recipe. The crumble isn’t heavy on flour anyway; it relies on oats for much of its substance. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to simply substitute gluten-free flour for the wheat version in the original recipe.
I decided to use a little gluten-free flour but to add in some finely chopped nuts as well. I used pecans because I had them in the freezer and, frankly, because I am a fan of pecans. I’m sure you could use almonds or walnuts or hazelnuts as well.
The pecans didn’t add strong flavor to this dessert, but they added a subtle something to its taste profile. And their texture increased the crunch and crumble of the dish. I may add them next time I’m making a glutenous concoction as well.
I may be back next week with yet another rhubarb recipe. We have to make the most of our “pie plant” before the temperatures get too warm for it.
Note: As you can see from the photo of rhubarb going into the baking dish, I was feeding a crowd so I doubled this recipe and put it in a 9-by-13-inch pan. I am giving you the recipe for the regular size, however.
Rhubarb Crumble
Ingredients:
5 to 6 cups chopped rhubarb (1-inch pieces)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (plus a little more if you love cinnamon)
1/4 cup gluten-free flour substitute
1/4 cup oats (old-fashioned, not steel cut or instant)
1/4 cup ground pecans (I ground them in my handy mini-food processor/chopper.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup light-brown sugar
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the rhubarb in a 9-inch non-reactive (that is, non-aluminum) pie dish.
Sprinkle on the sugar and the cinnamon. Place the flour substitute in a medium bowl along with the oats, the nuts, and the salt. Add the butter and cut it in with knives or a pastry blender (your hands will do in a pinch). Add the brown sugar and mix again until crumbly.
Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the rhubarb, pressing down lightly. Bake until the crumble is golden brown and crisp and the edges are bubbly. This will take at least 30 minutes and possibly more. Serves 6.
This crumble freezes well. Moreover, it is delicious the next morning for breakfast.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.