Tag: rhubarb

Foods of Canada, Sunday Edition…

 With Canada Day just a few days away, local foods are on my mind. Also, I expect this will be the last year for this country-sized veg garden, so we are making the most of the harvest. Today’s special: Rhubarb Maple Crisp.

Fill your dish with sliced rhubarb, and drizzle lightly with maple syrup.

For the topping, mix melted butter and syrup (about 1/3c of each) with 1/3c sliced almonds and enough rolled oats (large flake) to cover your dish – around 3c.

Bake in a 375 oven for 45-50 minutes, until the rhubarb is bubbling and cooked through, and the top is golden.

 
We served ours with some fat free plain yogurt, delicious and creamy. 

  

We're crazy for crisps…

English friends, full disclosure…not chips, or what you might call crisps. Fruit crisps are a summer dessert and breakfast staple. This one started with a layer of stewed rhubarb, although simply chopping with a little maple syrup would work well. Any summer fruit (or mixture) will do.

Put the fruit in a square pan. In a large bowl mix 1/4c melted butter, 1/4c maple syrup or brown sugar, 2c large flake rolled oats, and 1/3 c each of unsweetened coconut and walnuts. Change it up with nuts and seeds as you like. Add more oats until you have a consistency that’s not too wet and sprinkle over the fruit.

Bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes for pre-cooked fruit or up to an hour for fresh fruit, until topping is nicely browned and fruit is soft and bubbling. A glass pan lets you see what’s going on underneath.

We served ours with a tasty yogurt topping but whipped cream, ice cream or nothing at all and it would still be divine. (1/2 c fat free plain yogurt mixed w 1t maple syrup and 1/2t vanilla is plenty for two).

  

We really tarted up breakfast this morning…

  

A sure sign of the spring food garden is an abundance of rhubarb. In fact we had so much last year, that a whole bag went undiscovered in the back of the freezer and we found it when tidying up to prepare for this year’s harvest. This delicious tart is one of the results.

Stew at least 4 cups (1l) of chopped rhubarb with sugar to taste (we like ours tart, no pun intended) and cool. Eat as is, or to make this tasty tart, preheat oven to 375F . On a sheet of parchment, roll out one sheet of puff pastry to about 12″/30cm. Place on cookie sheet. Put rhubarb in the centre and turn in edges to lap over filling and contain it, leaving top open. Brush pastry with a beaten egg and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden. We served ours with a spoonful of plain fat free yogurt, sprinkled with a little cinnamon.

Love the coffee mug? It’s from Krysta Oland’s Morning Sun Pottery.

Rhubarb Berry Crisp – Garden Heaven

A week or two ago I was lamenting the lack of local strawberries. Frankly it’s a bit early for most of the province but they could be found in a few places – there were apparently some for sale at the Brickworks market. But this past week East Lynn Farmer’s market had a few. And my grandmother’s rhubarb (transported far and wide across the country, into various family gardens) was ready for the pulling.

What to make? Pie or crisp? The guys made the decision. Much to my surprise, they chose the crisp! Mix the fruit in the pan and sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

For the topping, about 1/2 cup (125 ml) butter. Relax, it’s crisp! Then a bit of brown sugar, some oats, and a little whole-wheat flour. Mix it together til it’s crumbly. Sprinkle over the top.

Bake at 350F for about half an hour. Check it. If it’s not golden, give it another 10 or 15 minutes.

You can serve it warm, by itself. Ice cream is nice. Or you can eat it the next morning as leftovers, with a little plain yogurt from your favourite organic dairy.

The Urban Farm is Growing!

Back in the winter, we started a few seeds. We’re not willing to accept that city living means you can’t have some self-sufficiency in your food chain.

So here’s our progress so far. Peas are starting to climb up the trellises. Lettuce and chard are growing, with a second crop underway. Radish, carrots and beets are mostly lurking under the ground, with the exception of a few carrot seeds that must have lain dormant over the winder and now are growing.

Not featured in this photo, except for the corner of one leaf, bottom right? Great, Great Grammy Hergett’s rhubarb, imported as a root from Nova Scotia.