Featured Ingredient: Rhubarb

I’m not sure that if rhubarb could only grow in tropical or sub-tropical climates that anyone would bother to eat it. It may simply be this bold plant’s early emergence from the cold ground in regions that have just endured a frigid, fruitless season that gives it a chance to be a culinary darling of spring.  I know I start peeking at the ground in the sunny spot next to the shed in my back yard as soon as the dirt seems mostly thawed. The first homely knob of proto-leaf and stem poking through the soil has me digging through my recipe files for the next rhubarb recipe to try.

These thick, super-sour stems (the leaves are poisonous, so don’t eat them) need a bit of doctoring to make them palatable, although I remember dipping stalks in a bowl of sugar before crunching on them when I was a little girl. The good news is that something very simple to make, such as a stewed sauce, can be very, very good, and rhubarb goes well with many fruits as well as warm seasonings, such as cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger.

My first cuttings of rhubarb usually go into a sauce, such as this one with vanilla and brown sugar. When good strawberries are available, I make this Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce.

 
And since rhubarb grows all summer long, I make this delicious one with blueberries when the occasion calls for it.

Take a little more time with sauce and it’s jam. I like to make this Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Jam, and, though it has been a while since I’ve been able to make them, the Bluebarb Jam (blueberry-rhubarb) and Gingered Rhubarb Jam with Honey in The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard are very good. (Both are canned jams.)

Rhubarb pie is probably the most common use of rhubarb historically. Apparently, rhubarb has often been called “pie plant,” although I’ve never heard anyone call it that myself. Whatever you want to call it, it’s great in this Rhubarb Custard Pie, which is big and rich.

It’s also great in simpler creations like Rhubarb Ginger Galette and Berry and Rhubarb Galette.

Two other rhubarb desserts I love are Rhubarb Custard Bars, which are quite different from Rhubarb Custard Pie,

and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Graham Cracker Topping.

And this crumb-topped Rhubarb Yogurt Cake is a simple coffee cake that’s good for breakfast and afternoon snacks.

While I absolutely love rhubarb in sweet settings, it has some delicious savory applications as well. This Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce, which is chunky and sweet-tart, behaves sort of like a chutney.

I’ve also seen savory recipes in which rhubarb plays the same role as tamarind, providing an exotic tartness in a lentil stew, for example. I hope to try such a recipe this year and tell you how it goes.

Since rhubarb is quite prolific and grows in my yard with no effort on my part, I’ll be equipped with plenty of it to revisit my favorite recipes and try new ones - like upside down cake, old fashioned pudding cake, and rhubarb-lemon cookies! - all spring and summer long! I hope you like it too!

Featured Ingredient: Zucchini!

**Update July 22, 2019: There are even more zucchini recipes in The Messy Apron Archives now. Just take a look in the recipe index!

The summer squash season is wonderful. It’s bountiful. It’s fun! It’s looked upon with equal amounts of greedy joy…and dread. We cooking gardeners and gardening cooks can’t help but be excited about producing so much food so easily. We also can’t help getting just a bit overwhelmed. I mean, what are we going to do with all this stuff?  Luckily, clever cooks have been finding ways to deal with all this vegetable flesh for generations.

Zucchini are, like the other squashes, descendants of plants native to the Americas. They were developed into the fruit that we know and love in Italy, hence the Italian-sounding name (although they’re also known as courgettes), and then re-introduced to North America by immigrants. The singular form of zucchini is actually zucchino, or sometimes zucchina, but since you’ll rarely see one lonely summer squash all by itself, those singular terms won’t get much use anyway.

Zucchini, as well as their botanical and culinary cousins, yellow summer squash, are quite mild, some would say bland, in flavor, with soft edible skins as long as the fruit isn’t too overgrown. They’re mostly known as a place-holder, providing substance to meals and moisture to baked goods, but they are very low in calories and do have some fiber, vitamin A, folate and potassium. The flowers are edible, too, and can be battered and fried, stuffed, or added to soup or quesadillas.

There are savory applications of zucchini to casseroles, soups and stews, and pasta dishes. There are sweet cakes, cookies, and quick breads. I love trying to find interesting uses for this prolific fruit, but they still have to be delicious (and not too weird). I find green zucchini and yellow summer squash to be pretty much interchangeable in savory recipes, so I use whatever I have. I have a list of all the zucchini and yellow summer squash recipes that I’ve shared on The Messy Apron here, but I list (with links) my five absolute favorites (so far) below.

 

Grilled Zucchini and Feta Dip

This is one recipe in which the zucchini really contributes to the unique character of the final product. It’s a delicious dip loaded with chopped zucchini softened and slightly smoky from the grill and flavored liberally with feta cheese. You could use other fresh herbs besides the oregano in the recipe. I recently made it with mint and it was fantastic. Pita chips are a great vehicle for this dip.

Zucchini Buttermilk Bread with Pecans

I don’t think you can talk about zucchini without talking about zucchini quick bread. This one is so good that I’ve kind of stopped looking at other zucchini bread recipes. I totally love the pecans in this bread, but I think chocolate chips would be a good substitution. It makes two loaves, so you can freeze one for later. 

Chocolate Zucchini Quick Bread

This is simply a chocolatey version of the basic quick bread above. The zucchini might not be the dominate ingredient here, but there’s chocolate, so who cares?

Zucchini Wheat Bread

This is a whole wheat yeast bread that uses zucchini for moisture and a touch of vegetable flavor the same way a quick bread does. It’s great for sandwiches, especially the tomato sandwiches I can’t seem to get enough of in late summer.

Pasta with Yellow Squash, Corn and Bacon

Here is my one tribute to yellow summer squash in this list. I just love this recipe as it is, but if you find yourself with zucchini to get rid of, you could probably use it here. It’s deliciously creamy and sweet from the corn, plus rich and a little smoky from the bacon. I make this every summer if at all possible.

Enjoy!

One year ago: Blueberry Thyme Cornbread