We’ve had our blizzard — Now it’s time to move on. If you look carefully, you just might spy eager daffodil sprouts poking through the otherwise-barren soil of Barnard’s front garden. Do you remember the smell of freshly cut grass, the feeling of reading outside on the Diana patio under the warm rays of the sun, or the sight of your classmates limping along in a three-legged race (and the later realization that you were, in fact, witnessing the hallowed Greek Games)?
I do. All winter long, I have carefully preserved a small orb of summer sunshine in my chest, and now I’m ready to pour it forth in the form of cheerful springtime food recommendations for you.
In traditional farming practice, the first vegetable to mature after the last frost of winter is that tough, celery-like and typically beet red vegetable known as the rhubarb. If you’ve seen a raw stalk of rhubarb, it can be difficult to understand why and how it becomes the soft, fruit-like ingredient of that perennial American favorite, strawberry rhubarb pie.
At some point in history, some resourceful mistress of the kitchen, so eager to make use of this first harvest after a lean winter, decided to drench it in sugar and bake it down – and thank god she did! Here’s my family’s favorite recipe for rhubarb pie. Crust is important, but hey, you’re in college, and Westside carries Pillsbury roll-out crusts that’ll do just fine.
For mild flavor, choose early pink rhubarb. If tender and pink, do not peel. Cut into 1″ pieces (1 lb makes 2 cups). Amount of sugar depends on tartness of rhubarb. Early rhubarb requires less sugar. Make your pie shallow.
Ingredients
1 1/3 to 2 cups sugar
1/3 Gold Medal
4 cups cut up rhubarb
1/2 tbsp. butter
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix the sugar and flour through the cut up rhubarb.
Pour into pastry lined pan.
Dot with 1 1/2 tbsp. butter.
Cover with top crust and cut slits into it.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake until crust is nicely browned and juice begins to bubble through the slits, about 40 to 50 minutes.
Serve slightly warm.
Recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking, courtesy of No Chefs Allowed (www.nochefsallowed.com)
I kind of got carried away with rhubarb (no regrets), but if you’re wondering what else is in season, you need only visit the Broadway farmer’s market on Thursday and Sundays. Look out for my guide to market offerings and how to use them coming up next.