rhubarb daal

This is a wonderful way to enjoy rhubarb as a vegetable, and a tart and refreshing meal for a spring evening.

Start with some oil in a heavy pot, and heat up ½ tsp. (whole) cumin, ½ tsp. (whole) coriander, and 2 tsp. each brown and yellow mustard seeds until they start popping. Then add a very thinly sliced onion, a small fragment of cinnamon bark, and chili peppers (to your taste, I added three whole chiles de árbol). Stir until the onions are translucent. Then add a bunch (about a pound) of rhubarb chopped into ½-inch slices. Stir, and season with a bit of salt. Add two cloves of crushed garlic, ½ tsp ground turmeric (dried, or thrice that if fresh), and a knob of freshly ground ginger.

Then add 1½ cups of red lentils. Cover with stock (chicken, or vegetable — or plain water and another but of salt) and stir. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until the lentils are done and the rhubarb has dissappeared into the daal. Serve with saffron rice (or your choice of other starch), a dollop of yogurt, and some fresh cilantro.

rhubarb-apricot-peach crisp

I don't know that I've seen apricot and rhubarb in season at the same time before, but the combination of them with Saturn (doughnut) peaches yields a wonderfully tart and delicious crumble. The fruit was tossed with mace, tapioca flour and turbinado sugar; the topping is butter, almond and wheat flours, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

rhubarb tart with strawberries and orange flower water

This is a rhubarb tart that I pulled together (also inspired by the new Deborah Madison book): I cooked a pound of chopped rhubarb with the zest and juice of an orange and a ½ cup of sugar. Once that softened, I added a handfull of halved strawberries (reserving most for garnishing since they were too gorgeous to cook) and ½ tsp. of tapioca starch and let it cook for about five minutes. To this I added a splash of orange flower water and let it cool, and I then placed it into a fully baked, and cooled, flaky tart shell (which had been coated with egg near the end of its baking). I added ⅓ of a vanilla bean to a ½-pint of heavy cream and let that sit while the tart set. To serve, I whipped the cream with another splash of orange flower water and some sugar. Finish with halved strawberries.

rosemary-rhumarb-cucumber salad

Made this recipe (via Jello Mold Mistress of Brooklyn) and it was pretty amazing. And I'm not one who eats gelatin salads regularly. Perfect for a 1950s cocktail party, especially when you want to skip mayonnaisey gelatin salads.

rhubarb daal

Rhubarb daal is one of my favorite spring meals. I sautéed 2 leeks and three hefty stalks of rhubarb. Meanwhile, I toasted brown and yellow mustard seeds, a good bit or coriander and some cumin. I pulsed them a few times in a retired coffee grinder and added them to the vegetables. I added maybe a cup-and-a-half of red lentils, some salt and turmeric. Then enough water to cover. And the result was marvelous.

It's perfect paired with salad (if you have a farm share, you need to eat some with each meal at this point in the season...) and grilled lamb meatballs (lamb, onion, salt, cumin, korean chili flakes).

ramps. rhubarb.

Ramps. Sautéed (white part, then green), in an omelet. Even better when the ramps came from the same person from whom I buy eggs. A whole meal from one property.



On the other hand, a local rhubarb galette. The was a super lazy take on Tartine's galette dough. I sliced some butter, rolled it out with a mix of ½ coarse whole wheat / ½ white flour, added salt and enough water to make a dry dough. It was amazing. That held rhubarb, sugar and nutemeg:

spring soup

"Spring Soup" : Adapted from Jane Grigson's Fruit Book.


Grigson's recipe is essentially a rhubarb soup, which she suggests needs sugar and in which cayenne is "important." I added asparagus and omitted the two aforementioned additions. It has a nice bite, like a sorrel soup. The bite from the rhubarb goes wonderfully with the asparagus, which was a bit of a gamble.

knob of butter
a tablepoon or two olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced
1 ½ carrots, sliced
salt
½ bunch rhubarb, sliced
½ bunch asparagus, sliced
3 small cloves garlic
1 quart vegetable stock

Sauté the carrots and onions in the butter/oil. Season. Add rhubarb, asparagus and garlic (whole). Lower heat, cook for 5 mins., then cover. Cook until soft, then add stock. Cook 20-30 minutes. Pass through a food mill or purée and strain.


This was tart and thick (does rhubarb have pectin in it?). A surprisingly great combination. The garnish is a raw asparagus tip and some fresh lovage.