That’s what the grocery store cashier asked me when I plunked down my plastic baggie full of thick red stalks. “It’s rhubarb! At least, I’m 99% sure it’s rhubarb. I couldn’t find a sign anywhere to confirm.” The lady standing behind me piped up “Yes, that’s definitely rhubarb.” If you live in Minnesota like my grandma does, you’re probably shaking your head in a sad sort of fashion that a conversation like this ever had to happen. But alas, this is Southern California, and people are far likelier to have an avocado tree growing in their back yard than have stalks of rhubarb sprouting from it. My folks hosted a family reunion a few years back, and said Grandma brought enough of her home grown stash to bake a pie. Yolanda took one bite, glared at us accusingly, and exclaimed “Hey, this is sour!!” Needless to say, that got a pretty good laugh out of the assembled Mid-Westerners.
Having never attempted cooking anything rhubarb related myself, I bought what I thought was a TON, and got busy looking up all the different recipes I was going to try it in. Turns out, I had exactly enough for exactly one of the recipes. It was a good one though, and now that I know which store is carrying it, I’ll just go back and buy more soon!
Along with her pie, Grandma also used to make little jars of rhubarb jam that I loved as a kid. It’s amazing smeared on hot buttered toast, corn bread, a PB&J, or whatever else you might fancy. I set out to find something that sounded good, and was stumped by recipe after recipe that ended in “then add a package of strawberry jello.” What if I don’t WANT strawberry jello in my jam? I kept hunting, and finally found one that was perfectly simple, and right up my alley. Rhubarb Orange Jam, containing exactly three ingredients. Rhubarb. Oranges. Sugar. Perfection! I had some beautiful blood oranges from my Specialty Produce Farmer’s Market Bag (FMB going forward) to use up, so I went that direction until I ran out, then switched to heirloom oranges from Trader Joe’s. By the time I was done prepping the oranges, it looked like a hellacious violent crime had been committed in my kitchen.
I threw in a cinnamon stick and a couple chunks of candied ginger just for fun, and got the whole thing to simmering.
A couple of hours later, I had beautiful, fragrant, perfectly thickened jam using nothing but the natural pectins in the fruit. I have to admit, I haven’t quite figured out the whole sterilizing jars for canning thing just yet. This batch just made enough for one really big jar though, so it’s not like I need it to have a months long shelf life or anything. In fact, my dad caught wind that I’d made it, and asked me to bring it up on my trip home next weekend. One way or another, it’ll get eaten up before it spoils.
In fact, I made some headway on that the very next night. A friend came to visit from out of town, and it wound up being one of those nights where everyone sits around a big restaurant table talking for hours. The waitress kept re-filling my glass of Diet Coke, and I kept mindlessly sipping it away again. When I got home a little after midnight, it was clear I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. Good thing it was a Saturday! I watched everything I’d recorded for the week on the DVR, and was still fidgety and channel surfing around 2am. That’s when I remembered the rhubarb jam was just sitting there in the fridge, along side a little jar of Meyer Lemon Marmalade – also part of my FMB booty. Hmm. What to do, what to do….make 2am cream biscuits! Duh. I had exactly the right amount of cream left over from a vodka sauce earlier in the week, it was practically meant to be. It’s another really simple recipe, just five ingredients and about the same number of minutes. Flour, cream, sugar, baking soda, salt. Assembled, dipped in melted butter, baked for 12 minutes. It’s a James Beard recipe for goodness sakes – you KNOW it’s going to be amazing.
Now that I’ve got a list of recipes I’m dying to try, I’m sure there’ll be several more rhubarb-centric posts in the coming weeks. Not all of them are desserts, either – there’s a Persian Beef & Rhubarb Stew that I’m thinking will be the perfect thing to initiate my shiny new slow cooker – especially if it rains this weekend the way they’re predicting it will!
Rhubard Orange Jam
Ingredients
4 c Rhubarb, diced
2 1/2 c Sugar
8 ea Oranges
Method
Wash rhubarb and dice. Put oranges through food processor. Mix fruit and sugar in large saucepan. Cook to boiling point, then reduce heat and cook slowly for 2 hours or until jam is thick and clear. Pour into hot jars and seal. Makes 1 quart (1 Liter).
Cream Biscuits
Adapted from James Beard’s American Cookery
(this version and it’s notes are from Smitten Kitchen)
The original recipe has you brush your baking sheet with melted butter (and increases the amount by two tablespoons) but for whatever reason, the butter not covered by biscuits just got smoky in my oven so I’m voting for you to just line your sheets with parchment. If you find dipping the biscuits in butter difficult (hard to grasp if the dough is soft), just brush them generously instead.
Made about 10 biscuits, perhaps a dozen if I had been stricter about the height and scrap-usage
Ingredients
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the surface
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt butter in a small pot or microwave dish, and set aside. Sift two cups flour, the baking powder, salt and (if using) sugar into a large bowl. Fold in 1 1/4 cups cream. If the dough is not soft or easily handled, fold in the remaining 1/4 cup cream, little by little. (I ended up using two additional tablespoons, or half the unused cream.)
Turn dough onto a floured surface, mound it into a ball and, using your hands, press it to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Cut into rounds, 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Gather dough scraps and continue to make rounds. Dip the top of each round in melted butter and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately, or flash freeze for future use. [Biscuits can be baked straight from the freezer, and additional few minutes baking time will be needed, usually around 3 to 5.]
