Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Rhubarb, rabarbra, rabarbaro

The "Piemonte" dinner has been a success. I was pleased with the pannacotta (both the one with peaches sauce and the one with saffron), the only problem was that I had to serve them in the glasses because I did not manage to get them out gracefully ;-)

Now I have another challenge!

In the garden we have a beautiful plant of rhubarb (rabarbra in Norwegian and rabarbaro in Italian). None of my neighboor was interested in doing anything with it and did not know what to do. Luca does not like the big rhubarb leaves and wanted to cut it or even remove the plant.
So yesterday I decide to trim most of the leaves. This is what I got.


The only time I make something out of it was last year when I tried this recipe from Alex It was nice but some bites where way too sour. I probably did not clean them in the proper way. I really do not have any experience with rhubarb!

Rhubarb is not very common in Italy, but I rember when we were travelling to UK and Ireland we often spotted rhubarb in the gardens. MAybe also in the Nederlands.

I think this year I will try again the clafoutis recipe of Alex and maybe also some other recipes of her!

Does anyone have any tips on how to clean and manage rhubarb? Any recipes in mind?

7 comments:

ComidaDeMama said...

Grazie mille per gli auguri. Sono piemontese anche io e bunet e pannacotta immagino abbiamo fatto breccia nei cuori dei tuoi ospiti.

Il rabarbaro qui non lo trovo, a Trento. A Cape Cod, però la mamma di una mia amica americana mi ha fatto un Rhubarb crisp, con le fragole. Da qualche parte ho la ricetta in inglese. Ci sono le misure americane ma se via da smitten kitchen c'è un buon converitore

iLa said...

@comida
Che onore! La pannacotta ha fatto breccia, il bunet peró non l'ho ancora provato...non ho ancora avuto il coraggio ;-)

Ho trovato il tuo post sulla composta di rabarbaro http://www.montag.it/comida/archives/2008_06.html
Ricetta "tun-tun"

ComidaDeMama said...

Ho visto che qualcuno era allergico. Ho la ricetta di Nonna Genia, se vuoi, l'ho fatta per un corso monografico per uno chef giapponese, tre giorni in cui una traduttrice riportava le mie parole in italiano in giapponese, meno male che cucinare davanti toglie via molte parole.

La ricetta è un classico e Nonna Genia è un libro che conoscerai, è il riferimento per la cucina di Langa. Il Piemonte è enorme e non so da che parte tu arrivi, io sono della prov di CN
La ricetta è questa qui

ComidaDeMama said...

Al tun tun è una bella espressione della signora maria di mallorca, sorrido ogni volta che ci penso.
Rhubarb crisp arriva

RHUBARB CRISP

Crisp Topping

1.5 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1.5 sticks of butter

Filling

8-10 cups of fresh rhubarb (the younger the better)
strawberries if desired—add or substitute for rhubarb
1 egg beaten,
1.5 cups sugar or so
pinch of salt
flour to sprinkle over all to thicken ??? 2-3 T
dot with butter

Mix the topping stuff—rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers
Mix the filling stuff—make sure all the egg and sugar cover all the fruit
Put in a 9X13 buttered pan or pyrex
Put topping on top

Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes—until the topping is brown and the fruit is a bit bubbly.

iLa said...

@comida
Yum! Tutto da provare! Che acquolina!

Nonna Genia non la conoscevo. Io son della provincia di BI, e credo che da casa mi abbiano mandato qualche ricetta di Bianca Zumaglini e Mina Novello. Andró a vedere e sperimentare!

Maarten Broekmans said...

A straight-forward 'Dutch grandma' recipe from Trondheim:

1) thoroughly strip the rhubarb stilks from threads by 'crack & peel', then cut in 2-3cm chunks

2) rinse in cold water and put in casserole with only adhering water

3) start with low heat, increase when chunks soften and wet bottom, cook until all soft and mushy

4) add sugar to taste, to compensate the sourness (I prefer fructose or dark brown sugar)

5) allow cooked rhubarb to cool to room temperature

6) whisk an egg white until almost stiff, just a tad sloppy, right before you...

6) scoop the egg foam through the cooled rhubarb

7) serve chilled from fridge with a brown sugar crust like crème brûlée

possible variations include addition of various liquors, eg. Grand Marnier/Cointreau, Amaretto, Limoncello, plain dark rum, right before allowing to cool.

ENJOY!

iLa said...

@Maarten
Thanks Maarten, your recipe sounds greit! I like the idea of the crust on top ;-)