Rhubarb – It’s Not an Argument
Volume 49, Issue 7
By Michael Safdiah

I enjoyed some beautiful East End asparagus last weekend. The farm stand on Lakeland in Sayville always finds wonderful Long Island produce. As a city boy I miss tasting real food until I get out here. It tasted like asparagus, not that bland, whitish stuff so highly prized by my European colleagues. It was good enough to parboil and finish off on the grill topped with a hard boiled egg and lemon vinaigrette dressing. It was delicious, but what got me really excited were the beautiful reddish green stalks of that misunderstood vegetable we usually have a love-hate relationship with: Rhubarb. I love it. It is already growing and being harvested now.

Each spring, I put up a big batch of it so it lasts all year in my freezer. It's an especially good addition to my summer meals on the island. In addition to spooning it over a bowl of vanilla ice cream, I made daiquiris for my delighted guests and didn't tell anyone what my 'secret' was. There was the way it enhances a dish of smothered stuffed pork chops, grilled wild salmon, swordfish, sea bass, and of course in a cobbler or crisp with apples, or over homemade Sunday brunch pancakes. It never ends. This sour, edible, versatile vegetable has reddish green stalks, and green leaves on top. The leaves contain small amounts of oxalic acid. You don't want to eat them, so trim off the base and leaves leaving only the stalks.

Two farm stand-sized bunches are generous and yield enough to last me a year. I cook them down with sugar and freeze them. You're going to hate me for not giving you exact measurements, but this is an estimate. The amount of tartness and water will vary with each bunch of the rhubarb so you have to be flexible.

PRESERVED RHUBARB

Use stainless steel knives. One average bunch of the stalks with bottoms and leaves trimmed off, washed and cut into 1/3 to 1/2 inch pieces. Use a wide, preferably non- stick skillet, enough to hold the rhubarb in one layer more or less. You may have to cook it in two batches, but the quality will be better. If you try to do it all in one batch you may overcook part of it which will turn it mushy, but don't worry, the flavor will be the same. I like the texture of less cooked, just so the white part fades to translucent. C'mon, be brave and cook with me.

Sprinkle a cup of sugar over it in a bowl, and toss. Place another half cup of sugar in the pan. Add 1/4 cup of water. Boil the sugar and water to form a thick syrup. Add the rhubarb, and cook while moving it around. You want the white to become translucent rose pink. Occasionally I place a bay leaf or two, (they grow wild here on Fire Island and add a wonderful dimension to the compote) and a dash of cinnamon to the rhubarb. That's up to you. Once it's all done and the sugar is dissolved, remove it from the fire and let it cool. Pour into clean wide mouth jars or plastic containers and freeze. For starters, use it over vanilla ice cream, pancakes or waffles. You can experiment with the sweetness if you prefer less or more. As you become familiar with this treasure, you can expand your horizons.

APPLE RHUBARB CRISP (from the Black Sheep Restaurant)

4 apples—peeled, cored and cut up (Granny Smith or Golden Delicious)

1 cup cooked rhubarb (large pieces)

1 dash ground cinnamon

1 dash ground nutmeg

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 stick butter, diced

1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Larger pieces of apple and rhubarb make each element stand out; don't chop them too finely. Place apples in a pie pan and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Yum. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Spoon the rhubarb on the top of the baked apples.

In a food processor chop nuts with a few short pulses. Pour in sugar and flour and process to combine. Add butter and salt and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle topping over apples.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

This dish simply has to be served warm, and preferably with ice cream or whipped cream. There's no such thing as too much of a good thing.

COFFEE RHUBARB

BARBECUE SAUCE

1/2 cup very strong black coffee, espresso is best.

1 cup ketchup

3/4 cup cooked rhubarb

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 onion, peeled and chopped, about 1 cup

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons dark molasses

1/4 tsp. chili paste or 3 Jalapeno peppers (to taste)

2 tablespoons hot dry mustard mixed with 1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Cool, then puree in a blender until smooth.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Grilled chicken, pork chops, ribs: Marinate the meats in a baggy containing some of the sauce for half an hour in the refrigerator. If chicken, make deep cuts into the meat to allow the sauce to permeate the meat. Grill and brush on some of the sauce as you cook the meat.

Meat Loaf: Add some to the meat before forming your loaf. Bake and make a trough in the top of the loaf. Pour in some of the sauce. Bake till done.

Grilled Fish (salmon, snapper, chilean sea bass, or swordfish): Brush filets of the fish with herbs, pepper and olive oil and grill on two sides until grill marks appear. Then brush the sauce on and continue to grill till fish is done. Don't overuse the sauce. You want to retain the character of the fish.

STUFFED SMOTHERED PORK CHOPS

4 large pork chops, rib is best, but loin is leaner.

1 pork sausage, (sweet Italian) cooked and diced

1/2 cup cubed stale bread

2 apples, peeled, cored and cubed

1 small onion, diced

thyme, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, crushed fennel seeds

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup cooked rhubarb

Cut a pocket as deeply as you can into each chop. Sauté the next five ingredients in a pan with some oil, and let cool. Stuff the chops as fully as you can and seal the openings with toothpicks, or tie them with string. There will be leftover stuffing, don't worry. Season and flour the chops and brown them on both sides in a pan large enough to hold them all in one layer, and which has a cover. Add the stock, and any leftover stuffing. Cover and simmer until the chops are done. If you can bake them it's even better. Spoon the rhubarb over the chops and cook another five minutes. Serves four.

Drink a white Zin or a Cotes du Rhone with this.

Love, Michael