Food: Glenda's Glorious Rhubarb Pie

Sometimes I like things that are a little different, things that aren't what they appear to be. Which is probably one of the underlying reasons as to why I like rhubarb. Rhubarb likes to play outside of its designated category...like a tomato, for example. A tomato, although a fruit, is generally not found in a fruit salad or a fruit smoothie (and for good reason...). So is the case for rhubarb when it comes to the vegetable world. Although it is a vegetable, rhubarb won't ever be seen in a succotash or a ratatouille. Instead this veggie prefers to be slightly sweetened and baked into a pie or stewed into a sweet, tangy, warm, gobby mess of goodness.

The recipe I'm sharing with you today is right at the top of my 10 favorite things to eat. And I'm sure some of you who have never had rhubarb are thinking I must be nuts. But trust me. This is a dessert I often requested in the spring when growing up (and still request even now as an adult). A couple of years ago I discovered a local pie place carried rhubarb pie, and you can imagine I was pretty excited. But it truly doesn't hold a candle to the recipe below.

DISCLAIMER: I know parts of this probably came out of a cookbook at some point, so I'm making a disclaimer in advance that if you know where this recipe originated, please send me an e-mail with the source…I want to give credit where credit's due…especially in the case of one of my favorite things :)

Besides my mom's classic pie recipe, here are a couple of other ways you should try rhubarb:

• Roasted Rhubarb (with Greek Yogurt)
• Rhubarb Raspberry Betty (via the Wednesday Chef)
• Country Rhubarb Cake (via the Wednesday Chef)
• Stewed Rhubarb with White Wine and Vanilla Beans (via Orangette)

Glenda's Glorious Rhubarb Pie

via MM's Mom

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• 2 c flour
• 1 t salt
• ⅔ c plus 2 T shortening
• 5 T cold water

Filling

• 1⅓ to 1⅔ c sugar
• ⅓ c flour (MM note: or more...this is your thickening agent)
• ½ t grated orange peel
• 4 c fresh rhubarb (cut into ½" pieces)
• 2 T butter

DIRECTIONS

Crust

- Combine flour and salt in a bowl and cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. Make sure shortening is thoroughly combined.

- Sprinkle in water and mix to form dough.

- Roll dough into two, round pie crusts.

- Line pie pan with one crust, set the other aside.

Filling

- Heat oven to 425 degrees.

- Stir together sugar, flour and orange peel.

- Place half of the rhubarb into pastry lined pie pan and sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture.

- Repeat with remaining rhubarb and sugar; dot with butter. Cover with top crust, cut slits in top,sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.

- Bake 40 to 50 min. until juices begin to bubble through slits in crust.

- Remove foil the last 15 minutes of baking.

Food: Rhubarb Strusel Bars

If you haven't figured it out already, I greatly adore rhubarb (hence my second posting featuring the ruby-red veggie in the past two weeks). So when I was flipping through magazines last week looking for inspiration, I got so excited when I saw this recipe, I immediately ripped the page out of my Better Homes and Gardens magazine almost tearing it in half (oops!). I don't know how I could have missed it (yes, this recipe was from the May 2008! issue, page 198). The fact I still have year-old magazines sitting around my house is kind of embarassing, but it was a fun to discover something new...and clean my house at the same time ;)

Since I'm not big on super-sweet desserts (sweet-tart is more my style), I decided to leave off the ginger icing and crystallized ginger on the top. This ended up being a good call since the cookie bar-base is very sugary. If I make this recipe again I would probably double the amount of rhubarb and hope it didn't make the crust too soggy since I thought this turned out to be more strusel than rhubarb-flavored. But it was still good nonetheless.

Oaty Rhubarb Streusel Bars

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened sliced rhubarb
• 1 recipe Ginger Icing (see recipe)
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8x8x2-inch baking pan with heavy foil extended beyond pan edges.
• In large bowl stir together oats, the 1 cup flour, and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup oats mixture. Press remaining on bottom of prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in medium bowl stir together granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and ground ginger. Add rhubarb; toss to coat. Spread on hot crust. Sprinkle reserved oats mixture; press lightly.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until top is golden and filling is bubbly. Cool on rack. Drizzle icing, sprinkle crystallized ginger. Lift from pan; cut into bars. Store, covered, in refrigerator up to 2 days. Makes 16 bars.
• Ginger Icing: In small bowl sitr together 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and 3 to 4 teaspoons apricot nectar, orange juice, or milk.

Food: Roasted Rhubarb and Yogurt

One of my favorite things about spring isn't the fact the weather is getting warmer or the flowers have begun to bloom (even though I look forward to both of these). Instead, it has to do with the availability of one of my favorite vegetables - the ruby pink, celery-looking sticks of the rhubarb plant.

It's interesting to me that anyone ever thought to try rhubarb stalks since their roots and leaves are poisonous and an initial passing of the raw, crunchy veggie on your tongue would make your mouth pucker in disdain over the not-so-pleasant experience.

And no, to those of you who think you've really tasted rhubarb before, if you're counting the one time you had Strawberry Rhubarb pie, it doesn't count (in my opinion, when cooking with rhubarb, it should always be the main star of the dish or sauce, not a seeming afterthought).

So how did I become to love rhubarb so much? It starts with my mom. Although I love to cook, my mom and sister are the bakers of the family. And my mother is a queen when it comes to making pies. Over the years she has completely perfected pie crust. Hers is an amazing, light, flaky shell that makes you never want to attempt to try store-bought or restaurant pie ever again. But my favorite element of any pie she makes is the filling - particularly rhubarb. She probably gets tired of asking me what kind of pie I would like when my answer is always, never failingly, "rhubarb, please." I could probably eat an entire rhubarb pie in one sitting (although it probably wouldn't be a good idea).

Since I haven't learned my mom's craft and the favorite part of a rhubarb pie to me is the filling, I was estatic when I found this recipe for Roasted Rhubarb on the Wednesday Chef's blog. Yes, it's shown here in a plastic container - I brought it to work with my lunch one day (which if you do this, be sure to pack the yogurt and rhubarb separately and combine them right before eating to avoid watery yogurt). I'm sure some of my co-workers (male management consultants where are definitely not foodies) were looking at what I was eating like I was a little strange. I mixed it here with Dannon 100% Natural Vanilla yogurt and I'm sure it would be even more decadant with Fage yogurt (although this time I was looking for something low-in-fat).

Rose Gray's and Ruth Rogers's Roasted Rhubarb
via the Wednesday Chef

Ingredients

• 14 ounces rhubarb
• 1 blood or navel orange (or 1 lemon)
• 2 vanilla beans or 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (or more to taste)
• 3 tablespoons Demerara sugar (more if you're using the lemon)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cut the rhubarb into 2-to-2 1/2-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl. Finely grate the zest of half the orange over the rhubarb and then squeeze the juice of the whole orange into the bowl. Split the vanilla beans and scrape out the seeds and place both in the bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
• Pour the rhubarb into a baking dish and arrange the pieces so that they lie flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla pods.