Technically a vegetable, Rhubarb is most often used with sugar to make desserts. Classically, it is paired with strawberries. I am not a fan, and prefer the zing of lemon zest and candied ginger in mine. Vanilla too and lots of it! When adding the vanilla I always dab a little behind my ears like a real country gal.
INGREDIENTS AND TECHNIQUE FOR THE FILLING
Begin by gathering your rhubarb, disgard the leaves outside. They’re poisonous, so compost them. Wash the stalks, and then chop it into chunks, not too small or it disappears.I prefer texture. I generally do not peel mine as I enjoy the pink color.
Once chopped, place in a large bowl, mix with white sugar ( for 6 cups of fruit, use 1 cup of sugar. Then add 2 TB vanilla, a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger, a grate or nutmeg and the zest of one half lemon. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup of instant tapioca. Mix well and let this bloom for about an hour. Stir once or twice.
PREPARE THE BAKING DISH
Use a bit of butter to grease the dish and make sure it’s deep enough. PRO TIP: Place it on a parchment cover sheet pan to easily clean up spills. They are messy.
CRISPY CUMBLE
A streusel recipe is a personal thing. Mine has buttery chunks, rolled oats, pieces of walnuts, flour, cinnamon and brown sugar. I’ll bet you have a favorite. Use that recipe and put on as much as you like on the top.
BAKE
@350 degrees for an hour or until bubbly around the edges and golden brown.
SERVE
6-8 with vanilla ice cream…..unsweetened Greek yoghurt works well for those of us trying to eat lighter. Ideally served warm.
Enjoy the glorious month of June and see you in July!
A Spring as wet as this one has produced a glorious burst of juicy rhubarb stalks, just begging for a go-round with some lemon zest and vanilla sugar.
Rhubarb is generally ready in my garden at about the same time as the first asparagus and the wild fiddlehead. It’s a celebration because winter is in the rear view mirror, finally, and the earliest jewels of the garden are here and ready to enjoy! My rhubarb is already sending up a blossom or two. These must be cut off in order for the stalks to get the growth needed to be fat and juicy. I always treat them as the lovely cut flower that they are and place those flowers in a vase.
The crab apples are snowing petals, grass s growing at an alarming rate and carrot seeds are being sown. It’s a heady moment for the Maine Gardener. There’s a lot to do outdoors after a long winter and the work days can be arduous .
Don’t you owe your self a nice, sweet/tart rhubarb dessert once you wash the dirt out from under your nails for the day?
Follow me over to Seasonal Recipes for a gorgeous Rhubarb Crisp made special with a crunchy crumble and a bit of candied ginger.
Gochujang packs a funky, complex punch with salty, smoky and spicy notes. It is a red chili paste which is fermented. I don’t always have the time to make it traditionally, which may require a trip to a speciality grocer or natural foods store and a couple of months to ferment. The weather must not be too hot, which is one reason the making of traditional Gochujang is done in Springtime.
I’m including a short cut recipe here, dynamite on rice bowls and in stews. I’m also including an image of a store bought version that I consider VERY GOOD!
Using it requires you to mix it with vinegar, sugar or Maple, water and Tamari , which is the best way to add the right amount to your rice bowl.
Here’s how it’s done. This is a Vegan recipe and offers a few shortcuts, if you don’t have 2 months to wait for a true ferment:
INGREDIENTS:
MISO PASTE
MAPLE SYRUP
KOREAN CHILI FLAKES
TAMARI SOY SAUCE
A HEAD OF GARLIC, minced
Mix them all together and play with the ratio of sweet, salty, hot and garlicy.
Give it a try and you may be so impressed that you decide to try making it the old fashioned way!
This Spring finds me with a new fascination for the healthy cuisine of Korea.
If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that I recently had a heart episode.
The doctor’s directive was “ eat closer to a Vegan diet”. My first thought was that it sounded a little boring, but after diving into Korean cuisine, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The robust flavors and fermentation techniques prevalent in this traditional cuisine are defined by a “golden ratio” of 7 to 3, or vegetables to meats and carbs. So really very vegetable forward.
Rice, soup and sides are supported by fermented sides and pastes like kimchi, a popular side dish (made with chili and cabbage) and gochujang, which is a fermented red chili paste that brings a ton of flavor to the party.
Cooking like you live in Seoul, doesn’t require too much special equipment, but a rice cooker is a plus.
Another great dish to begin with is Kimchi. It takes a while to get the fermented result, but in the mean while learn how to make a Korean rice bowl, or Bibimbap, with its wonderful array of vegetables.
Nothing tops off Bibimbap like the umami filled spicy and piquant Gochujang. Making this sauce is a right of Spring in Korea.
Follow me over to Seasonal Recipes for the recipe!
So, it’s been a week since my heart attack. The heart attack that happened after I suggested to my doctor that I needed a baseline stress test. Actually happened right on the tread mill! My own suggestion and I pushed to move it forward at least 2 months. Now please I said, not scheduled for summer. It’s been a good thing.
This soup has been a comforting and nurturing presence for me as I rebuild my strenght. It’s also wonderfully appropriate for April’s cool and rainy days.
I call this AMERICA’S RAMEN BOWL! Classic chicken noodle .
I always start with a very good chicken, the size doesn’t matter, from the natural foods store, rinse it and cover it with spring water in a big pot.
Add fresh bay, garlic aplenty, a rough chopped onion, carrot and celery. Salt and pepper. Stew it slowly, letting the bird perfume the house. When it temps as done, let the pot cool, then lift the bird out to pick the poached meat off. Skim the fat off the top .I save all the bones but not skin.
Set aside the meat, you’ll likely have extra so made chicken salad or tetrazzini . I return the bones to the pot with the stock, you can roast them in the oven first, if you like a deeper flavor in the broth. Add additional stock if needed to cover the carcass. Add 2 tbs. of vinegar and let the pot come to a gentle boil. Let it cook for hours for a nourishing bone broth and to cook off the vinegar taste. Vinegar pulls lots of nutrients from the bones.
Once you strain off the stock, set it aside. Disgard the bones. Chop garlic, onion, celery and carrots to return to the pot. No oil is needed. Bring to a simmer while you chop the meat you’ll return to the soup pot. Add that in and season with salt and pepper. I like a bit of turmeric to make it golden.
I use broken linguini noodles for the soup and cook them separately, adding them back in as I reheat the soup. I put in some starchy water too to build the broth. This keeps the noodles from getting too soft.
To finish each serving, I have lots of freshly chopped parsley for the top, to boost the goodness.
So, eat well, listen to your doctor, but also, listen to yourself. You’re more tuned in than you may think! And you’re your own best advocate.
I am celebrating in my own special way, with the joy of simply being alive. I had a close call just a week ago.
I’d scheduled myself a baseline stress test , having never had one. Long story short, I experienced a heart attack while trudging up an incline on the tread mill! Everything else happened fast. The wheel chair, the emergency room the blood tests and blood thinners and then the ambulance ride to Maine Medical Center in Portland. After several days stay and many tests I have three new stents and marching orders to eat lighter. Tell that to a French trained Chef. No butter? No swine? No wine? I guess bacon is out of the picture too…
What I learned, I would like to share.
Eating “well” and moderate exercise isn’t enough if you have chronically high cholesteral. After two decades of saying “no thanks” to statins, I am taking them now. I tossed the butter for better olive oil and am laser focused on lean proteins, eating the rainbow of vegetables and sadly, skipping dessert. For the time being, it’s goat cheese only. These are big changes for person whose life has been food and wine. But I am ready and entirely grateful for this wake up call.
Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish, typically a supporting role for the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal often cooked at Saint Patrick’s Day.
It’s dish of creamy mashed potato and a cooked, chopped greens. My preference is kale. This dish can be elevated by the addition of extra cream and/or butter and sometimes bacon. To change it up, you can sub in some parsnip for part of the potatoes, adding sweetness. I like adding chives at the very end. If you look hard enough in your winter garden, you may actually see a few beginning to sprout, if your chives grow in a protected and sunny spot. Chives are dependably one the of the first things a spring garden can offer.
The recipe is forgiving, so here we go, serves six
INGREDIENTS
3 pounds russet potato, peeled, rough chop
3 packed cups of chopped kale
Salt and pepper , to taste
1 cup chopped scallion
2/3 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of light cream
Chives, crispy bacon are optional garnishes
METHOD
Boil the potatoes, drain. Mash with cream and seasonings. Set aside.
Melt butter in a pan , add and cook the greens and scallion with a bit of salt, tossing until tender and bright.
Add the greens mixture to the mashed potato, stirring well. Adjust the seasonings and add a bit more cream for proper consistency.
Turn into a covered casserole and keep warm. Top with chopped chives at the last moment. You’ll feel the luck of the Irish after trying this dish!
It’s been an old fashioned winter, to be sure. We haven’t had snow piling up in such a protracted way for seasons.
The good news is, the NorthEast is where the snow is, so feeling very happy for the ski and winter activity resorts. They’ve had a few bad years, so this may not make up for it, but will certainly help!
“In like a lion” seems apt, we’re expecting the second storm of the week tomorrow. But even so, there’s already a change in the air, a quickening towards spring, and also in the quality of the light.
Soon, in a matter of days, it will be time to “spring ahead” with daylight savings time. That’s a definite boost!
Meanwhile, I’ll be content ( which seems a little underrated in today’s world) to watch the snow fall, the wild turkeys forage in the yard, note the witch hazel in winter flower, and ruminate with my seed and bulb catalogs.
Meanwhile eat hearty, stay warm and drink a little Guinness for old St. Pat!
The name means “re-boiled”, the flavor…out of this world. On the heartiness level, we give it a 10. It is essentially a country vegetable soup.
While preparing a pot of this luscious soup requires a bit of time ,gathering and chopping, the rewards are well worth it.
Nutritious, satisfying and flavorful, you can steer the result into the vegetarian sector or make it with a meaty beef soup bone.
Traditionally served over a slice of Tuscan bread, remember that this soup is largely vegetable so it doesn’t need to cook forever. If you choose to use a beef bone, cook that ahead to break it down and to make your bone broth so the rest of the ingredients don’t suffer. Did you know that boiling bones with a bit of vinegar draw out the bone essence? And the flavor cooks off, so no worries!
Here are my list of ingredient contenders : lots of garlic, minced, onion, celery, carrot chopped. Rutabega, cabbage and celeriac , medium dice. You’ll add a big can of chopped tomato and fresh herbs like basil and parsley just at the end. In the summer only I might add corn, okra and zucchini. A bit flourish of good olive oil in the bowl, just before serving and a smattering of herbs. That’s it. It’s not a recipe, but a creation, so feel unfettered! If you choose MISO, remember, we never cook it. Think of it like bouillon. It adds flavor and aminos, it’s a live food that gets diminished by heat , so swirl it in last, like salt.
Going to the root cellar is likely a dying tradition, however still very much alive amongst a certain style of Mainer.
Winter cooking used to be entirely informed by this. When people stored and ate what they grew (what remained in February were root vegetables, apples, cabbages, etc…and things that were “put by”, such as jams, jellies and pickles , salted meats and ferments) you’d better believe that there were some hearty soups and stews slated for the coldest days. So, get yourself some carrots, turnip, a rutabaga , cabbage, some creamy white beans, diced tomato, bone broth and a beef shin …OR MISO!…and go to town!
It seems like that this winter has really gotten real and we’re had weeks of“the coldest days”. Perfect for soup.
This is the sort of thing I want to cook and eat. I was first aquainted with it in Tuscany. They make a hearty soup, served over a slice of their saltless Tuscan bread called Ribolita. It means re-boiled and when you make a big pot, you’ll be eating it for a few days. So it must be “reboiled” or at least reheated!
It’s perfect! We know those days when it’s too cold to even get out of the house . Who wants to shop or cook? Do it once and enjoy the fruits of your labor for days!
Please pop over to SEASONAL RECIPES to learn some of the secrets to a successful RIBOLITA.
INGREDIENTS AND TECHNIQUE FOR THE FILLING
The crab apples are snowing petals, grass s growing at an alarming rate and carrot seeds are being sown. It’s a heady moment for the Maine Gardener. There’s a lot to do outdoors after a long winter and the work days can be arduous .
Gochujang packs a funky, complex punch with salty, smoky and spicy notes. It is a red chili paste which is fermented. I don’t always have the time to make it traditionally, which may require a trip to a speciality grocer or natural foods store and a couple of months to ferment. The weather must not be too hot, which is one reason the making of traditional Gochujang is done in Springtime.
This Spring finds me with a new fascination for the healthy cuisine of Korea.
Happy April Fool’s Day!
