My New Favorite Thing

In the nervous energy that always accompanies me before a big test, I decided to keep my hands and mind occupied with making roasted rhubarb. I was in one of those moods where I just needed to create something, anything. Luckily I do have some self control. I realized I couldn’t put studying off forever, so I begrudgingly set out to keep my creation in the simple realm. But in this case, as in most cases, simple turned out to be good.

I have always had a fascination with rhubarb. Growing up we used to grow it (or it grew itself really) in the garden behind our house. We did nothing to tend to it, but every year it would come and dazzle our garden with its brilliant red stalks. My mom would make strawberry rhubarb pies and rhubarb cobbler. I find eating rhubarb more sensory than eating other foods. It is pucker-inducing sour, but when cooked is dosed in sugar making it amazingly sweet. I haven’t had the time or patience for baked goods lately, but I did not want the rhubarb stalks in my fridge to go to waste, and lets be honest there was also a fair amount of procrastinating going on, so I began to look at recipes. I found jams, pies, cobblers galore, which all looked lovely, but it was the simplicity of this recipe that I found on The Wednesday Chef blog, that stood out. Side note: Her whole blog post is wonderful, about simple cooking techniques that transform how we think of food.

I have been on a sugar-free kick lately so I substituted the sugar for honey, and used the lemon juice per her suggestion. I chopped, I stirred, I roasted and then I glanced at the clock and in a flurry scraped the rhubarb out of the pan and scurried out the door to my study session. I did not think of the small bowl in my fridge until a day later. I went to grab the milk and there it was in all its hot pink glory. The rhubarb was okay plain, nothing rave worthy or crave inducing. It needed a little help.

Remembering my mother’s affection for Wasa crackers, goat cheese and fig spread I decided to do something similar. I spread a thin layer of goat cheese onto a multigrain Wasa cracker, placed the rhubarb on in lines, drizzled the whole concoction with honey and threw some flax seeds on top for extra crunch. Not only were the bright pink rhubarb pieces a lovely contrast to the white goat cheese, but the whole mixture was delicious. There was just the right amount of sweet and tang, crunch and softness. The perfect appetizer or healthy dessert.

Roasted Rhubarb
Adapted from Ruth Rogers's and Rose Gray's book, Italian Two Easy
Serves 4

3 medium rhubarb stalks
1 blood or navel orange or lemon
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons of Honey
2/3 cup creme fraiche (I imagine this would be delicious)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cut the rhubarb into 2-to-2 1/2-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl. Finely grate the zest of half the orange over the rhubarb and then squeeze the juice of the whole orange into the bowl. Pour in the vanilla extract. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
2. Pour the rhubarb into a baking dish and arrange the pieces so that they lie flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla pods. Serve with creme fraiche.

Now we shall wait and see what the nervous energy of waiting eight weeks for the test results brings to my table…