strawberry rhubarb crisp

I have been lucky enough to have a rhubarb supplier this year, and therefore, able to consume one of my favorite seasonal treats. I typically like my rhubarb unadulterated, especially in pie, but this Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble recipe from The Smitten Kitchen sounded like a summer-time dream come true—and it sure was. 

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yields 6 to 8 servings.

For the topping:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

For the filling:
2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 quart strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch 

1/8 teaspoon cardamom
Pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars, and nutmeg; add the melted butter. Mix until small and large clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.

2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, cardamom and a pinch of salt in a 9 or 10 inch dish.

3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling beneath, about 40 to 50 minutes.

foods from my trip home

Mom's homemade Rhubarb Pie.






Lunch from Dottie's. Zucchini cakes with poached eggs grilled cornbread. Grilled cornbread is the best thing ever.






My favorite ice cream from childhood and just life in general: Chocolate Malted Crunch from Thrifty's.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

it's the most wonderful time of the year

most people love spring and summer mostly for the heat, and while i appreciate not always being bundled up and on the verge of hypothermia, one of my favorite things about these months is that it's rhubarb season. april to september brings us this tangy treat.

for some recipe ideas, here are some past posts that showcase this delicious plant/fruit/what-have-you.

image and more ideas via serious eats.

rhubarb-raspberry jam

it's official, your grandma and i should be best friends. i spent all day yesterday making jam, knitting, and watching old movies. all i need now is a hip replacement for it to be even more legit. i made two kinds of jam. a plum jam (which i'll post later this week) and this rhubarb-raspberry jam. i've only made freezer jam before, so i was excited to try making the cooked kind. i can't remember how i found this recipe, but i did, and i'm thankful for it. i found it here and it's so much simpler than i thought it would be.

Rhubarb-Raspberry Jam - from The Rhubarb Compendium - makes about enough to fill up four 8-oz jars

4 cups 1-inch pieces fresh rhubarb (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2-pint basket raspberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

combine rhubarb pieces, sugar and fresh lemon juice in heavy large dutch oven. cover and refrigerate until juices form, stirring
occasionally, at least 8 hours or overnight.

bring rhubarb mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. increase heat to high and boil until rhubarb mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. add raspberries and boil until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes longer. remove jam from heat. stir in ground cardamom. cool jam completely.

(i boiled my jars in hot water and filled them up with the hot jam, then turned them over for 5 minutes, then boiled them for ten more minutes—right side up—to get a better seal so that my jam will last longer)

i love rhubarb

so, if you are a member of my family, you have to like rhubarb (sorry, courtney) and it's a good season for that now. so, i've made rhubarb pie and rhubarb bread lately. for the rhubarb pie, this is the right size of rhubarb chunk. it's about a quarter inch thick. for the rhubarb bread, it's about 1/16th inch thick.

now, i can't give you the actual pie recipe, cause that is forbidden by my mother. but, this one is pretty close.


so, for this bread, i basically added rhubarb to a coffee cake recipe and split it between two bread pans. the crumb topping from that bread i showed in the last post inspired the idea for turning this coffee cake into a rhubarb bread. this recipe is almost exactly like my mom's recipe. although, i don't use nuts at all. but if i did, i'd use pecans instead of walnuts. i hope you guys love rhubarb as much as i do and make some treats. if you have any other rhubarb recipes, please share them!