Rhubarb
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every day,” Sara Kittell exclaimed when I called. Since 1994, rhubarb lemon pound cakes have been the star of Gaudette’s farm stand, Black Creek Preserves, at the Burlington Farmers Market. She has baked and sold 50 a week, along with a dozen of her mother’s 9inch rhubarb pies and 20 to 40 of the six-inch size. Gaudette’s rhubarb ginger jam (“one of my biggest sellers”) and rhubarb maple chutney (“with or without cashews”) round out her rhubarb repertory. She grows Victoria, a greenstemmed rhubarb variety, for its hardiness and superior flavor, but limits its use to concoctions in which some other ingredient will provide vibrant color. “It cooks up greeny-brown, not pretty, so we use it in strawberry pie where its color doesn’t matter,” she said. “We use two less
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Rhubarb maple toasted bread pudding This is delicious warm and even better in the morning for breakfast.
4 slices good white bread 3/4 cup milk 3 tablespoons butter 2 eggs 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar pinch of salt 1 cup of chopped rhubarb whipped cream flavored with maple syrup
Remove the crusts from the bread and toast the slices. Cut or tear into small cubes and place in a bowl. Heat the milk with 2 tablespoons of the butter and pour over the bread cubes. Use the remaining butter to coat a 1-quart casserole. After the toast has soaked for 10 minutes, beat together the eggs, maple syrup, 1/4 cup sugar and salt. Stir in the rhubarb and combine with the bread mixture. Pour into the buttered casserole, sprinkle remaining sugar on top and bake for 40 minutes in a preheated 325-degree oven. Serve warm with maple-flavored whipped cream. Source: “L.L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery” by Judith and Evan Jones, Random House, 1989
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Rhubarb cosmopolitan 1 ounce garden rhubarb syrup (see below) 2 ounces Ketel One vodka 1 ounce triple sec 1 ounce fresh lime juice
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Alternatively, as a cooler, strain into an ice-filled highball and top with 2 ounces soda water and stir gently. Makes 1. For the rhubarb syrup 3 cups chopped rhubarb 1/4 cup honey 1 1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients in a stainless saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, until rhubarb is broken down. Strain and cool. Tartness varies a bit from batch to batch, so adjust honey amount as desired. Source: Steve Atkins, Kitchen Table Bistro, Richmond, Vt.