By Compiled from Times wires
Published May 21, 2003
Fresh rhubarb is highly perishable, so wrap it tightly in a plastic bag to retain moisture, refrigerate and use within three days. You can also freeze it for up to a year: Cut it into 1-inch chunks and seal in an airtight bag.
To prepare rhubarb, remove leaves and rinse stalks just before using, patting dry. Trim the ends and cut into 1-inch chunks. Remove any tough strings as you would with celery (although they usually will break down during cooking). Stew or bake with a little water and plenty of sugar.
Ideas for cooking with rhubarb from Cutco Cutlery Culinary advisory board members:
-- "Try a Rhubarb Ginger Crisp. Toss rhubarb and grated fresh ginger with sugar (1 cup sugar to 1 pound rhubarb) and top with a biscuit crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the rhubarb is tender." Susan Goss, chef and co-owner, West Town Tavern, Chicago.
-- "Rhubarb is good poached in a sweet, juicy apple, cooked down until soft, and then mixed with dried fruit and/or nuts as a base for a salad plate. Some savory combinations might include sliced prosciutto, blue cheese, pumpernickel bread, as well as dressed greens." Cory Schreiber, chef-owner of Wildwood Restaurant and Bar and the Overton Street Kitchen & Bakery, Portland, Ore.
-- "I like to deep-fry rhubarb. Create a batter by combining 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of cornstarch, baking powder and enough soda water to make a mixture the consistency of maple syrup. Blanch the rhubarb in sugar water. Dip in semolina or corn meal and then into the flour-cornstarch batter. Deep fry the rhubarb until golden brown and dust with powdered sugar." Fritz Sonnenschmidt, national chair of the American Academy of Chefs.
-- "I like to make a rhubarb barbecue sauce for spring. Simmer 2 cups of fresh or frozen, chopped rhubarb with 1/2 cup water and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan until the rhubarb is tender. Mash the rhubarb in the pan and stir in 1 cup of tomato-based barbecue sauce. Serve with barbecued chicken, ribs, burgers or pork tenderloin." Judith Fertig, cookbook writer, author of Prairie Home Cooking (Harvard Common Press, 2001; $18.95).
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
21/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 tablespoons milk
5 medium stalks rhubarb, cut into 11/2-inch pieces
11/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
11/2 cups white sugar
31/2 tablespoons tapioca
1 pinch salt
11/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
To make crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour and the salt. Place the 1/2 cup oil in a 1-cup-sized measuring cup and top with the 6 tablespoons of milk. DO NOT MIX! Pour oil and milk over flour and blend with a fork until it forms a ball of dough. Divide dough into two balls. Place one ball on sheet of waxed paper. Top with another sheet of waxed paper and roll out to fit your pie plate. Repeat with remaining ball of dough. Peel top paper off one crust and flip dough into pie plate. Peel off paper and press dough in. Save remaining dough for top crust.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
To make filling: Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, salt and nutmeg until the fruit is well-coated. Pour filling into the crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, seal edges and cut three 1-inch slits in top of crust.
Bake pie at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let pie cool before cutting.
