Food on Friday: Rhubarb

As most of you know, we grow rhubarb in our garden. It all started with the one plant - called Ruby - who grew so much we had to split her in half and so she spawned her daughter, RubyTwo. Well, the years have gone past and the pair of them are now busting out of the brick planters they are in and three times a year (or more) threaten world domination unless we harvest them and share them around the neighbours. So, as you can imagine, obtaining rhubarb isn't exactly a challenge. In fact, for…

We love rhubarb around our place. Which is a good thing because, as you are probably aware, once it starts showing up there is a LOT of it. Like.... sooooo much... That's okay though. It just means we get to experiment with tons of rhubarb recipes. The one we are sharing here, for example, is adapted from a recipe our mom found in a Taste Of Home magazine. It has marshmallows in it, which just seemed weird. Of course, we had to give it a try! We drastically cut the sugar in this recipe. The…

Good Afternoon to you, One of my favourite puddings as a child, was Rice Pudding, made with full fat milk, pudding rice, sugar and a touch of nutmeg. This was a very popular pudding when I was a child and I was very lucky as both Ivy and Phyllis made lovely rice puddings. I think rice pudding was so very popular, because using just a few ingredients, it was a pudding which was filling, and which would stretch quite a long way and when you had a growing family to feed, puddings such as this…

Ever since Ruby our rhubarb plant, started to get really (no, really) big, hubby has been saying "we should make some rhubarb chutney". Now I had a go at it, waaay way back when, which wasn't all that successful. It tasted fine at the time, but I always know when something hasn't been as successful as it first seemed, because a) nobody eats it beyond the first day and b) nobody asks for it again. So I'd been on the lookout for an "interesting" rhubarb chutney, but to no avail. Everything…

Long overdue, I'd say! Having occurred to me that I had yet to blog anything Rhubarb & Ginger flavoured - if ever there was a missed opportunity, it's that one - I resolved to do something about that. Now Ruby is, as ever, on a mission to take over our little garden - so I had no shortage of rhubarb. In fact, we've had to crop her once and there was so much of it we gave rhubarb to all the neighbours whether they wanted it or not. Sugary rhubarby promise of jam Ruby 2 has yet to be cropped…

This is one of those recipes that has jumped the queue of recipes waiting to come to you, just because it is SO good. With rhubarb leaping out of the ground in abundance (well, it is in our garden), you might be looking for something new to do with it - and this relish is a thing of rare beauty that deserves to be made. My hubby is going through a bit of a purple patch with regard to cooking at the moment. He's bored rigid with cooking dinners, but interesting little challenges like making a…

Rhubarb and custard cake. Now there's a duo of loveliness, embodied in a name. Firstly, rhubarb and custard - who can resist? Then, cake! How on earth do you combine rhubarb, custard and cake, without turning it into trifle? Well, read on, because it is possible, beautifully possible. I have introduced you to Ruby, our rhubarb plant, on previous occasions. We now have two of them, as because Ruby was growing so well (and about to take over the garden), we split her into two. In this way…

The weather, having taken a turn for the summery, was responsible for turning my thoughts away from things like Rhubarb Cobbler towards cooler, more refreshing desserts. Now I’ve not had a great deal of success in the last few years where jelly is concerned – especially jellies made with sheet gelatine. So when I began to consider rhubarb jelly, you can understand why I opted for a good old block of strawberry jelly – which is what gave me the idea of involving strawberries. I’m not sure…

I'm posting about this marvellous pie now, out of sequence, owing to the clamour that is going on via Twitter, for the recipe. :) It really was a fabulous pie - and although I've never been to America, nor had an American pie, it seemed to answer the description (and match the photographs) of a good deep-filled American pie. I've been asked on Facebook (where I am "Jenny Davies" if anyone wants to find me) what motivated the pie. It's a good question, because it's not a combination of fruits…

Being the beginning of October, it isn't altogether surprising to hear that our rhubarb bushes are beginning to shut up shop for the winter. Now, because they are so abundant, we had a complete triffid in the shape of Ruby (the original bush) and a triffid-in-training in the shape of Ruby 2 (her daughter). Thanks to some high winds the other night, Ruby had suffered a little bit and hubby was required to go out there with his No.1 Slasher (i.e. a big knife) and harvest everything harvestable…

Ruby : overflowing her planter somewhat! I had been pondering over what to do with the rhubarb when hubby decided to crop Ruby, our Timperley. One bagful has definitely got to go to my parents, as we forgot to give them the last one! Other than that, I needed to think of something yummy - and something out of the ordinary (for me!) that would showcase the rhubarb in all its glory. It was too soon to do the Pork & Rhubarb dish, and I wasn't feeling like anything savoury with it anyway. So a…

When my parents came over for lunch last weekend, we picked a whole heap of rhubarb for them to take away with them - and, of course, forgot to give it to them. So, I've had four or five big sticks of rhubarb getting right in the way in my fridge ever since. My intention has been to find some use for them, be it a crumble, or maybe the fruit layer of a sponge for dessert, or perhaps a fool. Indecision and lack of time resulted in their still being in the fridge by the following weekend…

Such pretty colours. We have two large rhubarb plants in our garden. I've mentioned them before, I know, but for those who are new to them, we have the original Champagne rhubarb known as Ruby - plus her daughter, Rubytwo. I'm sure I've said before how they appear to be planning world domination and I am still of that opinion. They occupy two planters on the edge of our patio area and currently, you can't actually see down the garden because of them. Ruby is around 4-5 feet high and Rubytwo…

So you'll remember my saying that hubby has taken on the mantle of Sunday Roast Chef? Well, he explains a bit more about it below, then takes you through this fantastic roast. Don't be scared of the rhubarb sauce - honest! This roast dinner was truly one of the best roast dinners I've had. Yes, it was out of the ordinary - but the pork was softly tender and tasted just fabulous, the butternut squash was delicious and the rhubarb sauce just brought everything together. Think "rhubarb with a…

The three taste sensations are : 1. The rhubarb barbecue sauce; 2. The baked sweet potatoes; 3. The chilli cream that went in the sweet potatoes. (And the pork was pretty special, too! The salad, well, it was salad. What can I say?). Let's deal with the barbecue sauce first. I put "BBQ Pork" on the menu list for this week, fully expecting to do my usual chilli/soy/honey mix for the pork steaks. However, in browsing food blogs during the week I spotted a recipe for Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce from…

I guess that title has probably put at least 50% of you off reading this recipe, but if you got this far do please read on - it's very worth it! Ruby - growing well, but before she went for world domination I was very keen to make the most of the butcher's special offer regarding the pork steaks, plus Ruby our rhubarb plant has been growing like a proverbial weed and needed cropping. You might think "main course and dessert", but if you're me, you think "how can I combine the two"? I had a…