This is a good year for rhubarb here in Calgary: we’ve gotten plenty of moisture and the temperatures have been relatively cool so far. I don’t grow rhubarb myself, but there is a plant at the community garden where I rent a plot. Because there are 27 plotholders, one rhubarb plant doesn’t go very far, so out of fairness, a system of rationing has been implemented. Late last week I picked my allowance, and mulled over how best to use it. My go-to rhubarb recipe has always been a rhubarb cake from the Purity Cookbook (you can see a modified version of this recipe on my blog Blooms and Spoons, over at Grit.com), but this time I was looking for something a little different. I had a refreshing drink in mind, but I seem to have misplaced my recipe for Rhubarb Fizz, and the ones I’ve found (so far) on the Internet aren’t the same. The organic lemons and strawberries I had in the fridge finally clinched it for me. Here is what I made:
Rhubarb-Strawberry-Honey Lemonade
4 stalks rhubarb, washed and chopped into 1″ chunks
1/3 cup honey
4 cups water
1 1/2 cups strawberries, washed, hulled, and chopped (I wish my alpine strawberries were ready to pick now – I will have to make this again once they are!)
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 3 lemons
Bring water, rhubarb, honey, water, and lemon zest to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add strawberries, and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, then strain liquid through a sieve into a glass pitcher. Reserve fruit. * Add lemon juice. Serve chilled. You can add a splash of carbonated water to this if you want it to be nice and fizzy!
*Rhubarb-Strawberry Cobbler
This is why you reserved the fruit from the Rhubarb-Strawberry-Honey Lemonade!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place rhubarb-strawberry fruit mixture in a medium saucepan. Add 1/4 cup water and 3 tbsp. sugar. Simmer on medium heat for ten minutes. In the meantime, make the batter.
Mix together:
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Add in:
1/3 cup margarine or butter
Stir until mixture is crumbly.
Combine with
1 egg
1/2 cup milk.
Stir thoroughly. The batter will be very sticky.
Place the hot fruit into a 9″ square glass baking dish and top with spoonfuls of batter. Bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy warm, with cream or ice cream!
(Recipe adapted from the Purity Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Canadian Cooking).
Do you like the taste of rhubarb? What are your favourite rhubarb recipes?
Flowery Prose. 