"Roo-Bub"

I picked, actually you pull, this beautiful rhubarb the other day.  I get it across the road at the old farm house and I know the plants have been there at least 50 years.  It's probably two weeks early this year thanks to the wacky weather we've had.  Rhubarb, is a funny thing, you find yourself trying to find just one more thing you can do with it.  Well my friend J sent me this blog Orangette, she was struggling with the same thing, finding one more thing you can make with rhubarb.  She posted this recipe:

Roasted Rhubarb
Inspired by Canal House Cooking, Volume 3
2 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup crisp white wine
1 vanilla bean, split

Set a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the rhubarb in a Dutch oven or other deep oven-safe pot. Add the sugar, wine, and vanilla bean, and stir to mix. Bake (uncovered) for about 30 minutes, or until very tender, giving the pot a gentle stir about midway through to ensure that the rhubarb cooks evenly.

Note: I like to eat this cold, though I imagine you could also serve it warm.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings, depending on how greedy you are.

Well I made this......WOW!  This is one combination of beautiful flavors, even the smell was something you wanted to bottle up.  You could make it with orange juice but really the wine, vanilla and rhubarb is perfect.  Use "sugar in the raw" if you have it.  I keep a box of it around for delicate baking like this.  For those of you who need to know more about this interesting species from the genus known as Rheum go HERE. Plants are good, real food is good, cooking is good, eating it is good, when all of that happens life is good.

Comments

[Lisa L.]

Sounds interesting. Is it soft and mushy like an applesauce, when its done? I'm not a huge rhubarb fan but hey, I'm willing to try something new and unique. We have 3 or 4 plants of it in our garden. Might as well try something new with it!

[Lisa W.]

I' thinking rhubarb pie...YUM my Mom use to make it alllll the time.

[Auntie Pude]

My father liked it raw with sugar for dipping. I've never cared for it but Cone loves rhubarb pie. When Toot lived in Eliot and had a few plants, I used to pick a big paper grocery bag full, make little "Table Talk"-sized pies and freeze them for his lunches. What a good little Susie Homemaker I was.

[Jody Blue]

We are rhubarb crazy here. My husband makes the most wonderful deserts..he made this one Friday...http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=5131 it was over 1/2 gone by Sat morning. We freeze it and last year I boiled it, strained it and froze the juice for Rhubarb punch.