Ah, Spring! A Baltimore Oriole has been spotted at the feeder, dandelions are taking over the lawn, temperatures are finally reaching the 70s and---the RHUBARB is up! I remember my first taste of rhubarb. I was about 10 and had never heard of it, but I was served a bowl of warm rhubarb sauce at the famous fried chicken restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm, Anaheim, California.
I thought it was about the most wonderful thing I'd ever tasted, and I told my mother I could not understand why we had never had it before. She had never tasted it either. We had a large and healthy stand of it by our mobile home at Trinity Bible College, and I've since learned that it is beloved in the cold states.
Here is the first of a few rhubarb recipes. This one about as simple as it gets. Sometimes simple things really are the best!
2 c. rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 c. fresh strawberries, sliced in half
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 unbaked pie crusts
Mix strawberries and rhubarb together. Place on bottom crust in 8 or 9 inch pie pan. Mix other ingredients well. Pour evenly over top of fruit. Top with pie crust.
Sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon and put some vents in top crust.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and finish baking until rhubarb is tender. Serve with whipped cream.
I make all sorts of rhubarb recipes, but not the usual pie, so I'll have to try this one. It is interesting how early the rhubarb starts to grow. Mine is large already. We transplanted some and the "scraps" went into the compost bin, which is now full of baby rhubarb plants. Rhubarb needs a cold winter to grow, so I guess it doesn't grow in the south.
ReplyDeleteOr the nice warm California coast either. I'm making this pie tonight. :)
ReplyDelete