Ravishing Rhubarb

 Snowdrops are generally acknowledged to be the first sign of spring in the garden, but in my little plot the rhubarb always beats them to it. And while snowdrops are beautifully delicate and demure, rhubarb is brash, bright and bold. As early as the new year you can see livid pink knuckles poking up through the soil. By February, these have been topped by crinkly acid green leaves. I generally help mine along at this point by sticking an old metal fire bucket over the top - the darkness forces the rhubarb and rewards me a few weeks later with my first produce from the garden.

I always like to have my first taste of rhubarb for the year in its raw form, dipped in sugar. This takes me back to my childhood - who wasn't given a stick of rhubarb and a bag of sugar when they were young? The tartness of the fruit is made up for in being allowed to eat some sugar like it was sherbet.

I cook my rhubarb in two different ways. My "signature dish" as they say on television these days is a rhubarb crumble. I have been told by my very picky youngest daughter that my crumble makes up for all the atrocities that I have dished up onto her plate over the years. Especially when it is served with tinned custard.  Here's my recipe:

Take 3-4 decent sized sticks of rhubarb and chop them into chunks. Place them in a saucepan with a squeeze of orange juice and a heavy sprinkling of brown sugar.  Simmer for 5 minutes. When it is cooked, place the rhubarb and juices in the bottom of a pyrex dish. 

Then add your crumble mix. I use equal amounts of the main ingredients - usually 2 ounces, but this can be increased if you have a lot of rhubarb to cover. I mix together butter, brown sugar, plain flour and porridge oats. I also add a dash of sea salt and ginger powder. When it is all well combined then spread over the top of the fruit in the pyrex dish.  

Bake in a medium oven for about 20 minutes, until the rhubarb is bubbling up through the crumble. 

If you can't be bothered with a crumble, why not just roast the rhubarb and serve it warm with ice cream melting over the top. Place your cleaned sticks of fruit into a roasting tin, add the zest of an orange and trickle over some runny honey. Cover with foil and roast for 15 - 20 minutes. 

As well as the feelgood factor of eating something you have grown yourself, rhubarb is a good source of fibre. It also contains calcium, magnesium and vitamin C. As a garden plant it needs very little maintenance and comes back year after year with no fuss. 

And I can highly recommend rhubarb and ginger gin to warm you up on a winter evening!

Click here to download a 99p copy of my book "Good Plain English Cooking, Nothing Fancy"

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