Rhubarb Recipes
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[Pink Compote]
I've always been a great fan of tart and acidic things. I also love the French word for this special combination of tastes, "acidulé", which perfectly conveys the idea of something colorful and tingly and refreshing. As a child, my favorite candy were the ones that gave your tastebuds shock therapy -- I remember with particular fondness those little flying saucers made of pastel...
These days, when I get to the Batignolles farmers market on Saturday mornings -- as early as I can but not as early as I'd like -- my first order of business is to dart upon whatever rhubarb is left at my favorite produce stall.
My strategy is not 100% proper, I'm afraid.
The pile of stalks is usually found a third of the way down the length of the stall, wedged in between, say, a basket of sh...
On Sunday, we were invited to my sister Céline's place for lunch with my parents, and I offered to take care of the dessert. With the beautiful spring weather we've had lately, I felt like making something light and fruit-based. Rhubarb season has just begun and we are all big fans in my family, so that was the fruit of choice.
I looked around the web, and read good reviews about Nigella's rh...
Red Onion and Rhubarb, Fresh Cheese and Quince Mini-Tartlets
[Red Onion and Rhubarb Mini-Tartlets / Fresh Cheese and Quince Mini-Tartlets]
When I throw a party, even if I'm going to serve food buffet-style, I always try to have a few small nibbles to offer first, at the bar that separates our kitchen from the living-room, which is where everyone tends to linger at first. This allows all of the guests to arrive, get a drink and settle in, before the buffe...
Rhubarb Compote with Pink Champagne Cookies
[Rhubarb Compote with Pink Champagne Cookies]
This was a last-minute addition to the dessert buffet for my birthday party. I was at the grocery store minding my own business, when a beautiful bunch of rhubarb, all slender stalks and pink cheeks, called out mischievously : "Rhubarb season doesn't last forever, you know!" I turned around in surprise, looked at the other shoppers, but they were ju...
And here you thought, ingenuously, that a bunch of rhubarb was just a bunch of rhubarb.
But no. A bunch of rhubarb, or any other delightful but fleetingly seasonal fruit, is in fact a test that life puts before you. Think Cosmopolitan meets Jean de la Fontaine : are you a grasshopper or an ant?
The grasshopper will enjoy the rhubarb now, and make a compote, a cake, a crumble, a tart, a pie, ...
Rhubarb Tart with Lemon Verbena
I am rhubarb's most adoring fan.
Throughout the season, in the spring and then in late summer, my weekly market run includes a big bunch of blushing stalks that I'll cook promptly, once home, into a compote* I'll eat for breakfast (with a gurgle of homemade kefir) throughout the week.
While compote is my standard use for rhubarb, I love it in a tart, too, and that's what I decided to serve for...
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