Eat Seasonal

Rhubarb

The Epicurious map of seasonal foods got a few things right, for Illinois. Rhubarb is in season. Be trendy, make sweets from vegetables. Things eaten recently in the bungalow made with the season's finest.

Rhubarb Muffins

Pre-heat oven to 375

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar (we used vanilla sugar)
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 cups rhubarb, finely chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla
Turbinado Sugar

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and buttermilk. Add rhubarb and cranberries, do not over-mix. Whisk together dry ingredients in another bowl. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture. Scoop into greased muffin tins. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top. Bake at 375 for approximately 25 minutes.

Rhubarb Shlump or You may call it Grunt

First, make a rhubarb compote:

3 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 quart sour cherries (frozen)
1 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
Juice of 2 limes
Pinch of salt and cinnamon
Shake of fresh ground pepper
1/2 Cup of water

Combine all ingredients but for the blueberries in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until rhubarb starts to breakdown. Add blueberries cook for a few more minutes.

Make a batter:

1 cup flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbs melted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients. Add melted butter. Slowly add buttermilk to form a wet but not too wet batter.

Grunt while you do this:

Have the compote at a gentle simmer. With a teaspoon, form walnut sized dumplings from the batter. Drop into compote. Cover tightly with foil. Cook approximately 15 minutes until dumplings are firm.

With Shakey-Shakey

Pre-heat oven to 350. Put how ever many stalks of rhubarb you have in a baking pan. Cover with a good amount of sugar, probably 1 cup. Pour in enough water but not enough to drown rhubarb. Bake at 350 until very soft, about 30 minutes. Parcel out rhubarb into bowls while still hot. Pour over shakey-shakey (condensed milk).