Rhubarb Crisp from NY Times

I liked this recipe because it called for only 1/4 cup of sugar to 6 cups of rhubarb. Most other rhubarb crisp recipes have way too much sugar. The crisp topping adds more than enough sweetness.

Of course, I had to make modifications to Rhubarb Crisp - NY Times. I didn't use any lemon juice or zest in the rhubarb and less butter in the topping. The recipe called for pecans in the topping-I used ginger agave cashews because that is what I had in the freezer. The recipe called for 1.5 inch pieces of rhubarb. Mine were much smaller-maybe 1/2 inch. I also added some fresh ginger to the rhubarb, because I am on a ginger kick lately. Slightly less topping (less sugar) would be fine. My version:

6 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 or 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup fresh ginger, cut finely (optional)

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup brown sugar (as little as 1/2 cup would probably be sweet enough if you like very tart)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
Pinch salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pecans or other nut. Perhaps it was the ginger agave cashews that made this so good.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking or gratin dish with a little butter. Toss rhubarb with white sugar, orange or lemon juice and zest, and spread in baking dish.
2. Put the 6 tablespoons butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt, and pulse for about 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together. Add oats and pecans and pulse just a few times to combine.
3. Crumble the topping over rhubarb and bake until golden and beginning to brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

Mango Jack

A few months ago, we stopped at Harvest Spirits and sampled the Mango Applejack that distiller and owner Derek had concocted.  It was delicious, but not for sale, so he told me how I could easily make it at home.  I bought a bottle of applejack from him. The dried mango is from the Honest Weight Co-op.
 
On March 19, I started soaking about 1/2 pound of dried mango slices in pure Applejack (Batch 12, bottle 518).  I tasted it today, May 14.  It is sweet and ready to sip.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My hankering for tart food started with this Sweet and Sour Chicken dish from guest blogger Jaden Hair at Elise's Simply Recipes. I used a green and yellow pepper, and sliced carrots, and served it with brown rice.

I made it Thursday thinking Phil would be returning home that night or Friday.   He is still helping out his parents, so I ate it for dinner Thursday and Friday, and lunch on Friday and Saturday, and there is still some left.   It was really good.

Tonight's Dinner complements of Anne's Food Blog

I found Anne's Food blog yesterday and I prepared 3 recipes from it for dinner tonght.  Anne is from Stockholm, Sweden. I really like her recipes' style and the unique search method she has for her recipes. I actually haven't eaten any of these yet, as I will bake the chicken and dress that zucchini, whenever Phil gets back from his parents sometime tonight.   If I cook from here often enough, maybe metric conversion will finally become second-nature.  For now, I use these cooking conversion calculators frequently.

I had 4 boneless chicken thighs that needed to be cooked and a bounty of rhubarb in the garden. Anne's recipe came up when I searched on those 2 ingredients together.

Boneless Chicken Thighs with Rhubarb, cream, chives, sambal oelek (dried chilies).   This picture is before baking.  My rhubarb is mainly green.  It tastes great, but red would be prettier. (Oops, I forgot to add the honey and already poured the liquid over the chicken and rhubarb, so I drizzled a little agave over it since that is not as thick as honey).

Red Potato Salad with yogurt, parsley, coriander, mint, capers, vidalia onion, and celery. (Anne used yellow onion, no celery)
 

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with french tarragon, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar.  This picture is just zucchini with a couple of tarragon leaves, before adding the dressing.

The Mango Chutney Carrot recipe comes from a different website-Taste of Home.  I used half the butter and sliced regular carrots into matchsticks. I didn't have any OJ or oranges, so I added less than a Tbsp of fresh lemon juice. I have also made this with raw shredded carrots with fresh squeezed orange, instead of cooked carrots and it was delicious.  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mango-Chutney-Baby-Carrots.

Rhubarb is Ready! Rhubarb Bars and Pickled Rhubarb

All of the rhubarb plants sprouted flowers that had to be cut off (twice, already). It seems like it only took 2 weeks from the first leaves poking out of the soil to ready to harvest.  

I need to make something for a work celebration next week, so I made a smaller test batch of Rhubarb Bars with a shortbread crust.  I prefer more tart, so less sugar than most recipes, like Brooke's recipe. I don't have a 7 x 11 pan so I used a large pie pan instead.  The combination of the tart topping with the sweet buttery crust is delicious.
 

I also made Pickled Rhubarb, as that also sounded oddly compelling. We'll see if anyone likes it.

The idea is to serve as part of a cheese platter, so I made one jar with diced rhubarb  where the pickled rhubarb is featured as part of a white asparagus salad).

The rhubarb for the other jar was sliced in 4 inch thin sticks, so you can eat them like pickles.  My version was based on this recipe from Pickle Girl who made huge batches for her wedding, or this one from Mother Jones, but with different spices and proportioned down to 1 cup of cider vinegar, 3/4 c sugar, 1.5 inch sliced ginger, a couple of Start Anise, a little dried red pepper flakes.  I cut enough rhubarb stalks to fill a 1/2 pint jar of with thin sticks of rhubarb and another 1/2 pint jar of diced rhubarb. Then pour pickling liquid to top and refrigerate after it cools.

Asparagus-Bacon Quiche with no Crust

This was a pretty, tasty, and easy Easter weekend brunch.

5 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese mixed.
1 onion and 1 garlic clove sauteed.
8 slices bacon, cooked.
1 lb asparagus (8 spears trimmed to about 5 inches, rest cut to about 1 inch. Microwave 2 minutes.

Combine everything except the 8 asparaus spears and 2 strips of bacon.
Pour into buttered very large pie pan.  Mine is 11 inches across at the top.
Arrange the 8 asparagus spears like spokes on top.  Divide the 2 strips of bacon into 4 pieces each and place between spokes.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35 minutes.

Strawberry Semifreddo

Semifreddo just means partially frozen.  There is no specific recipe-most seem to be a combination of fruit and whipped cream and various other ingredients, (eggs, yogurt, mascarpone cheese).  I just found out about semifreddo today, but it reminds me of the strawberry-rhubarb quark pie I recently created.  I had put that in the freezer for a little while just to set because my strawberry-rhubarb sauce was still warm, but then refrigerated the pie.   I think recipe will be more like a light ice cream.


My semifreddo recipe will be Easter dessert tomorrow, but I wanted to write down what I did before I forgot. 

4 cups partially thawed strawberries, slices, and pureed in food processor with 1/4 sugar.
1 cup Meadowbrook Farms heavy cream, whipped with about 1 T sugar and about 1/2 t vanilla.
2 egg whites, whipped until holds a peak.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap.
Put a layer of the strawberry puree in the pan. about 1/2 inch?
Combine the strawberry puree with the whipped cream. Fold in the whipped egg whites.
Add mixture to the loaf pan.
Cover with saran wrap and freeze.
Tomorrow, unmold upside down onto serving plate.
Slice and serve on individual plates.

I made some strawberry-rhubarb sauce the other day that I may serve on top.
May garnish with whole strawberries too.

Note: I am not afraid of these uncooked egg whites as I know where these brown eggs came from.  We'll see what happens when you freeze whipped egg whites in this dessert. I tried to cook the 2 yolks over a double boiler, but got distracted and got scrambled eggs, so I left the yolks out.  I saw recipes that cooked just egg yolks, no whites, and another that cooked and eggs whites and yolks together, and recipes with no eggs at all.  No loss not having egg yolks as that is less calories and the mixture tasted really good.