Tag Archives: Rhubarb

Spring Greens with Rhubarb Vinaigrette

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After a long Ottawa winter, I have a tendency to get a little carried away when spring produce finally arrives. Asparagus? Into the basket. Peas? Absolutely. Rhubarb? Always. While I usually save rhubarb for desserts, this year I found myself wondering whether those tart pink stalks could do double duty in something savoury. That curiosity led to this Spring Greens Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette. The dressing is bright, tangy, and beautifully pink, and it pairs perfectly with spring greens, strawberries, creamy Brie, and candied spiced nuts. It’s the kind of salad that makes me genuinely excited to eat my greens.

I’m firmly on Team Texture when it comes to salads. If every bite tastes and feels the same, I lose interest pretty quickly. This salad has crunch from the Little Gem lettuce and candied spiced nuts, sweetness from strawberries, honey, and the candied coating on the nuts, and creamy richness from the Brie. The rhubarb vinaigrette brings a bright tang, while a little Aleppo pepper in the spice mix adds just enough heat to keep things interesting. I also love the slightly bitter, peppery bite of arugula. It balances the sweetness of the berries and candied nuts and makes every other flavour pop a little more. And can we talk about the colours? Between the pink dressing, red berries, and fresh green lettuces, this salad practically screams spring.

Keys to Success:

  • 1. Homemade candied nuts are worth it, but store-bought works too. Short on time? Feel free to use your favourite store-bought candied nuts. That said, homemade candied nuts are surprisingly easy to make and keep well for several weeks in an airtight jar. I used a combination of pistachios, walnuts, and pecans, but this recipe is very forgiving. Use whatever nuts you have on hand.
  • 2. Choose a cheese you love. Not a Brie fan? No problem. Havarti, Gouda, or a good aged cheddar would all work beautifully here. The goal is a creamy, flavourful cheese that balances the tangy dressing.
  • 3. Use whatever blending tool you have. A high-speed blender creates an especially smooth rhubarb vinaigrette, but an immersion blender or food processor will also do the job. Blend until the dressing is silky and no chunks of rhubarb remain.
  • 4. Dry your greens thoroughly. Waterlogged lettuce is the enemy of a good salad. After washing your greens, spin or pat them dry so the dressing clings to the leaves instead of sliding off.
  • 5. No Little Gem? Use romaine hearts. I love Little Gem for its sweet flavour and crisp texture, but romaine hearts are an excellent substitute and much easier to find in some areas.
  • 6. Platter or bowl—your choice. I like arranging all the components on a large platter because the colours look so beautiful and everyone can see what’s in the salad. If you’re serving a crowd or prefer a more casual presentation, toss everything together in a large bowl instead.
  • 7. Don’t overdress the salad. The rhubarb vinaigrette is bright and flavourful, so a little goes a long way. Start with about two-thirds of the dressing, toss gently, and add more as needed. You can always add more dressing, but you can’t take it away. Keeping the greens lightly coated helps preserve all those wonderful textures.

Spring Greens Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette

This Spring Greens Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette combines crisp Little Gem lettuce, peppery arugula, sweet strawberries, creamy Brie, and candied spiced nuts with a bright, tangy rhubarb dressing. It’s a colourful celebration of spring flavours and textures.
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Servings 4
Calories 501 kcal

Ingredients
  

Candied Spiced Nuts

  • 300 grams assorted nuts, (about 3 cups). I used pecan halves, walnut halves, and shelled pistachios.
  • 50 grams granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, or 2 teaspoons Morton Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
  • 1 large egg white

Rhubarb Vinaigrette

  • 150 grams rhubarb, sliced into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad Ingredients

  • 400 grams mixed spring greens (about 7–8 cups loosely packed). I used a mix of Little Gem, arugula, frisée, and pea shoots.
  • 1 pint strawberries, sliced
  • 130 grams brie, cut into 1-inch pieces

Instructions
 

Make Candied Spiced Nuts

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • In a small bowl, combine the sugar, salt, and Aleppo pepper. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, lightly whisk the egg white until frothy. Add the nuts and toss until evenly coated. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the nuts and toss again until well coated.
  • Spread the nuts in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15–20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until lightly golden and dry to the touch.
  • Let cool completely. The nuts will crisp as they cool. Break apart the clusters and roughly chop before using. Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature.

Make Rhubarb Vinaigrette

  • Place the rhubarb and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cover and cook until the rhubarb is very soft, about 10 minutes.
  • Drain the rhubarb well and discard the cooking liquid. Transfer the softened rhubarb to a blender and add the maple syrup, Dijon mustard, vinegar, and olive oil. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Assemble Salad:

  • Place the greens in a large bowl and toss with about ¼ cup of the rhubarb vinaigrette, adding more as needed to lightly coat the leaves. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Transfer to a platter or shallow serving bowl. Top with the strawberries, brie, and about ½ cup of the candied spiced nuts. Serve immediately

Notes

The colour of the vinaigrette will vary depending on the colour of your rhubarb stalks.
Do not attempt making spiced candied nuts on a very humid day.  They will not dry our properly and will be very sticky after baking.
You will only need about 1/2 cup of the Candied Spiced Nuts in the salad. Store extra in an airtight container at room temperature. They will last for several weeks.  Do not attempt making these on a very humid day.  They will not dry our properly and will be very sticky after baking.

Nutrition

Calories: 501kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 11gFat: 41gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 825mgPotassium: 470mgFiber: 5gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 330IUVitamin C: 73mgCalcium: 145mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

I set out to see whether rhubarb could make a good salad dressing, and honestly, I wasn’t sure how the experiment would turn out. The fact that my husband went back for seconds tells me everything I need to know. This salad has quickly become one of my favourite ways to enjoy rhubarb season, and I hope you’ll give it a try. If you do, leave a comment below and let me know where you stand on the great rhubarb debate.

Strawberry Rhubarb Swirl Ice cream

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It’s no secret to regular readers of this blog that I adore rhubarb. That being said, I was shocked to discover there are 18 rhubarb recipes in the archives of my blog! I love the tartness that rhubarb brings to desserts. It’s a great way to achieve flavour balance in desserts, keeping the sweetness at bay.

Local rhubarb does not really arrive in Ottawa until early July and right now I am awash in a sea of rhubarb. Because I no longer have a garden (I’m in a condo now), my son planted a rhubarb patch in his backyard for me for Mother’s Day a few years ago. Rhubarb is a prolific perennial. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

This ice cream is a vanilla base with roasted strawberry-rhubarb compote mixed in. Roasting is an excellent way to boost the flavour profile of fruit. Mix 1.5 cups of halved strawberries, 1 cup sliced rhubarb and 2 tablespoons sugar together on a sheet pan, and roast it in a 350°F oven for about 15 minutes, until the fruit is tender. Mash the fruit with a potato masher until it becomes a chunky sauce. Chill the sauce while you make the ice cream.

If you find yourself with a plethora of rhubarb, slice it and freeze it. Then all winter long you can roast it with frozen strawberries and spoon it over your morning yogurt. It makes winter more bearable.

I used the basic vanilla ice cream recipe from my Cuisinart Ice Cream recipe book. It’s an excellent base for all kinds of flavour mix-ins. The strawberry rhubarb mixture gets swirled in once the ice cream is churned but still soft.

Feel free to serve the ice cream in cones or if you want to make a special sundae dessert, serve it in pretty glasses with this Salted Pistachio Crumble on top. I’m all about texture. Save some of the strawberry rhubarb juice to drizzle on the sundaes.

Click here to print recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Swirl Ice cream with Salted Pistachio Crumble.

Rhubarb Raspberry Pavlova

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Fairly close to the top of my “To Do” list was an item I have been putting off for quite a while (aside from rescheduling my dental cleaning). I have been wanting to master the skills necessary for baking a beautiful pavlova.

I turned to Zoë François for some advice. Her pavlovas, along with the ones created by Rachel Korinek of @twolovesstudio are ones I I have long emulated.

A pavlova is a meringue based dessert named after famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. She toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926. The creation of this dessert sparked the famous “Pav War.” New Zealand claims that the chef of a Wellington hotel at the time created the dessert in her honour, apparently inspired by her bell shaped tutu. Australians, on the other hand, claim that the pavlova was invented at a hotel in Perth, and named after the ballerina because the meringue was “as light as Pavlova.”

The meringue base is typically topped with whipped cream and then some type of fruit. Baking the meringue is a bit tricky and requires paying attention to the small details. I baked quite a few last month and here is what I learned.

  • Make sure the bowl of your stand mixer is absolutely clean and free of any grease. Fat is the enemy of meringue.
  • Cold eggs are easier to separate than room temperature eggs as the yolks are firmer when cold and less likely to break. Let cold egg whites sit for at least 30 minutes before beating. Room temperature egg whites will produce greater volume.
  • Use superfine sugar to make the meringue. It dissolves much faster than regular sugar and will give you a smoother meringue. Any undissolved sugar leads to a gritty and/or weeping meringue. I learned that the hard way! If you can’t find any at the supermarket, just place regular granulated sugar in the food processor and process it for about 45 seconds. 
  • Know your peaks. When it comes to gauging doneness of beaten egg whites, you need to understand the stages of doneness. Soft peaks will flop over. Medium peaks will stand up but not completely straight. Stiff peaks stand straight upright.
  • Beat the meringue on low and steady speed. (speed 2 or 4 on my KitchenAid mixer) A slower speed results in a more stable meringue. Once all the sugar is added you can increase the speed to high.
  • Be patient when adding the sugar to the egg whites. Slowly spoon in the sugar while whisking the egg whites. It should take about 5 minutes to add the sugar. Adding the sugar slowly allows it to dissolve. Adding it too quickly will deflate all the air bubbles you are working so hard to achieve.

I find meringue to be very sweet, so I decided to add a tart rhubarb curd to the filling to counterbalance all the sugar. I also paired tart rhubarb with fresh raspberries for an added hit of tartness. The rhubarb is roasted in the oven. The curd and the roasted rhubarb can be made a day in advance. Assemble pavlova the day you plan to serve it.

Here’s a video showing how the assembly comes together. Your meringue will likely crack in the oven. As Zoe says, “that’s the nature of the beast.” Cracks notwithstanding, it will still taste delicious. You will need to carefully remove the top layer of baked meringue to allow you to fill the pavlova with curd, fruit and whipped cream. The outer shell is firm, but inside you will discover a softer marshmallowy layer.

Click to access Rhubarb-Raspberry-Pistachio-Pavlova.pdf

Strawberry-Rhubarb Biscoff Icebox Cake

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If you grew up in the 1970’s you might recall the iconic Nabisco Icebox Cake. Two simple ingredients and no baking required. Chocolate wafer cookies are layered with whipped cream and then set into the fridge for some culinary alchemy. The cookies absorb the moisture from the cream and become soft and cake-like. The texture always reminded me of the Good Humour Ice cream Sandwich -squidgy, in a good way.

My mom was fancy, so she always sprinkled the top with some chocolate shavings.

This version is Julie van Rosendaal’s clever take on the original icebox cake. As soon as I saw her recipe in the Globe and Mail last month, I became obsessed with trying it. I have tweaked her version very slightly by adding some strawberries to the rhubarb compote. Watch how it all comes together.

Biscoff cookies originated in Belgium in 1932 and have become Europe’s favourite cookie. They are similar to gingersnaps but have a much crunchier texture, which I discovered comes from Belgian brown sugar , which is quite different from North American brown sugar. If you’re curious about the difference, you can read all about it here.

The first time I had a Biscoff cookie was in 1991. I had just moved to Ottawa and my Belgian neighbour, Brigitte, invited me over for coffee and a playdate with our kids. She served Speculoos cookies with the coffee. I thought she said “speculum” and was slightly perplexed. I discovered that the brand name was Biscoff (a hybrid of biscuit-coffee) , but the generic name of the cookie is Speculoos. A visit to the gynaecologist never fails to make me think of these cookies. Whatever you call them, they are delicious.

I bought my Biscoff cookies on Amazon. If you live near a Trader Joe’s, they make a version of these cookies as well.

This cake is a great make ahead dessert. Prepare it just to the stage before you slather the top with whipped cream. Cover well and pop it in the freezer for up to a month. Just before serving, unmold from the loaf pan and cover with freshly whipped cream. A great trick I learned from Anna Olson, is to add skim milk powder to your cream before whipping (1 tablespoon per cup of cream). The skim milk powder stabilizes the cream and your beautifully piped or swirled design will hold its shape for hours.

For the design I piped, I used a Wilton #127 piping tip. You could just spread the cream on and use a spoon to swirl it decoratively.

When sliced, the cake is such a pretty surprise. The tartness of the rhubarb provides a lovely fresh contrast to the sweet cookies and cream.

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Click here to print recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb-Biscoff-Icebox-Cake-1Download

Rhubarb Lemonade Gin Fizz

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Rhubarb isn’t just for pies and crisps. It makes a delightful addition to cocktails. If you’re not a rhubarb lover, it’s likely a textural issue. In this recipe, you make a simple syrup with the rhubarb. As the name implies, it’s really easy! Chopped rhubarb, water, sugar and lemon zest are simmered in a pot for about 10 minutes. Once the rhubarb has finished infusing, strain out the solids and keep the gorgeous pink syrup in a jar in the fridge for at least a month.

In addition to cocktails, the syrup would be delicious brushed onto cake layers for a strawberry cake, drizzled onto ice cream for a sundae or even just mixed into soda water for a refreshing drink.

While I don’t enjoy drinking cocktails, I adore styling and shooting them. This one was inspired by a recipe I found online for Fizzy Pink Rhubarb Lemonade. Thanks to Redpath Sugar for the spark.

When I was envisioning this shoot, I pictured two cocktails in the foreground with a gin bottle, out of focus in the background. The only gin we had in the house was in a black opaque bottle. That was not in keeping with the light and airy spring vibe I was trying to create. I found this gorgeous bottle at the LCBO.

My husband inquired as to why I bought more gin, when we already had a full bottle. He just smiled and nodded at my aesthetic explanation. Smiling and nodding is the secret to our 36 year marriage. Plus, he gets to drink the cocktail at the end of the shoot, so no complaints from him.

I used a vegetable peeler to make ribbons of rhubarb as a garnish. If you put them in a container of cold water overnight, they curl up into a pretty garnish. Or, you could just decorate the glass with a slice or wedge of lemon.

Click here to print recipe for Rhubarb-Lemonade-Gin-FizzDownload

Pistachio and Rhubarb Meringue Cake

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If you have been my friend here in this space for a while now, it’s no surprise that I get very excited when rhubarb season arrives. At last count, I had 15 rhubarb recipes on my blog. My youngest son planted a rhubarb garden in his backyard for me on Mother’s Day because I live in a condo. If you have ever planted rhubarb, you know it is the gift that keeps on giving!

The “layers” in this cake are meringue, with ground pistachios folded in for crunch. The meringue layers bake in a low oven (250°F) for about an hour. Then you turn the oven off and leave them there overnight, to dry out completely.

I got the idea for this cake from Sainsbury’s Magazine. Sainsburys is a UK based supermarket. Their website has so many inspiring ideas and recipes. I adapted the recipe very slightly.

The rhubarb is poached in a heavenly combo of orange juice, sugar and vanilla. This is the perfect make-ahead dessert. Bake the meringue layers and prepare the rhubarb filling a day ahead and then an hour before serving, whip heavy cream with some sour cream to make a tangy whipped cream and assemble.

A drizzle of rhubarb syrup and chopped pistachios finish off the cake.

My husband dislikes both rhubarb and meringue, so you can imagine his dismay when I told him what I was planning. He gamely tried a piece when I was finished shooting and discovered that, he did indeed like rhubarb and meringue. He reasoned that the two negatives somehow cancelled each other out. Who said that two wrongs don’t make a right?

This cake is a study in contrast. Meringue can be cloyingly sweet, but the tart rhubarb and tangy whipped cream really balance out all that sweetness. The meringue layers are a crunchy foil to all that soft whipped cream and silky rhubarb. While strawberries are a classic pairing with rhubarb, I love to combine it with raspberries. It is an unexpected combo that looks pretty and tastes yummy.

A slice of this cake is a bit messy but oh so addictive.

Click here to print recipe for Pistachio-and-Rhubarb-Meringue-CakeDownload

Strawberry Rhubarb Rugelach

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There are no shortage of Rugelach recipes recipes on this blog. Rugelach dough, rich with butter and cream cheese, is a great blank canvas. Then it’s time to have fun and create different flavour combos.

In 2016 I went wild with Cookie Butter Rugelach. The following year I baked Mindy Segal’s Cinnamon Brickle Rugelach. And last year fruit and nuts were featured in my Rhubarb-Raspberry Pistachio Rugelach.

This one starts with making your own strawberry rhubarb jam. Store-bought is fine, but if you have an extra 20 minutes, this jam is stellar. I discovered this recipe from Jake Cohen over at thefeedfeed. Sweet and tart with a little pop of acidity from rice wine vinegar, you will find yourself putting this s##t on everything.

This dough rolls out like a dream. No cracking or splitting. It’s like velvet.

Each little wedge gets rolled, starting at the fat end and ending at the point.

Brush with egg and bake.

While they are baking, crush some freeze dried strawberries into a fine powder and mix with granulated sugar. As soon as the rugelach are baked, spoon some strawberry sugar over the rugelach. Once they are cool, give them a second dusting. If you have never tried freeze dried berries, you must seek them out. Many natural/health food stores carry them, as do Trader Joes and Whole Foods. They are a concentrated punch of colour and flavour that will elevate any baked good.

Click here to print recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb-RugelachDownload

Rhubarb Pistachio Loaf with Strawberry Glaze

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I suspect that toilet paper is not the only thing people are hoarding during the pandemic. Anyone else notice the glut of banana bread recipes floating around the web these days? It seems we have an excess of rotting bananas on our counters.

But, I’m here to change all that. Move over banana bread. There’s a new loaf in town. It’s rhubarb season and I couldn’t be more excited. We live in an age of instant gratification, where we can get practically anything we want, at any time. But not rhubarb! We must patiently wait for rhubarb season. But it’s so worth it. I adore that tart, sour flavour.

It’s rare to find rhubarb at the market with the leaves still attached. Most stores cut the leaves off before selling them because they’re poisonous. So when I find some with the leaves, I really geek out. Local rhubarb is just starting to arrive in Ottawa. This bunch is forced, which results in rosier coloured stalks.

I have made many loaves over the past few weeks, turning my husband, a former rhubarb hater, into a lover. My first version featured pecans. I switched to pistachios when I ran out of pecans, and I was thrilled with the results, both in taste and in looks.

This loaf comes together very quickly. Only one bowl and no mixer required. Check out the video.

The glaze is made with icing sugar, lemon juice and about a half an ounce of freeze-dried strawberries, which I ground into a powder. One ounce of freeze dried strawberries contains almost a pound of fresh strawberries, so this glaze really packs a punch of flavour.
Freeze dried fruit is not the same as dried fruit. Dried fruit is dehydrated and only about 75% of the water is removed. With freeze-drying, the fruit is placed into a vacuum chamber where the temperature is well-below freezing and 99% of the moisture can be removed from the fruit.

After glazing, I decorated the top of the top of the loaf with more pistachios and some freeze dried strawberry dust.

This is sure to become a new favourite in your house. This is a super moist loaf. I love it because it’s not too sweet. The tangy rhubarb flavour really shines through.

Click here to print recipe for Rhubarb -Pistachio-Loaf-with-Strawberry-Glaze-Download

Brown Butter Strawberry Rhubarb Ginger Hand Pies

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My love of rhubarb is no secret around here. There are almost 10 rhubarb recipes on this site. I eat rhubarb all year long. I must resort to frozen for 11 months, but then, in late May, fresh local rhubarb arrives in Ottawa and I can be found squealing with joy at the market. When rhubarb is this pretty, it deserves to be tied up with a bow.


Rhubarb is one of those polarizing ingredients. Most people either love it ot hate it. I think the haters object to the sourness and stringy texture. The key is to add just enough sugar so that edge is taken off, and you avoid that mouth puckering astringency. I find that baking the rhubarb in the oven helps to melt the rhubarb down into a silky smooth texture.

Pairing the rhubarb with other ingredients and flavours can also help to convert those haters. Strawberries and rhubarb are a classic pairing. I added some ginger for a bit of zing. It’s a surprisingly delicious flavour combo.

The pastry for these hand pies is most unusual. Created by cookbook author Abby Dodge, it uses browned butter and eggs. The browned butter adds a gorgeous nutty flavour. The eggs make the texture of the dough more like a cookie than a pie crust.

A sprinkling of coarse turbinado sugar adds sweetness and crunch.

Click here to print recipe for Brown Butter Strawberry-Rhubarb Ginger Hand PiesDownload

Havarti and Strawberry-Rhubarb Grilled Cheese

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This is a grilled cheese sandwich for grown-ups. For me, grilled cheese is a once in a while indulgence, when I feel the need a big food hug. The inspiration to add strawberry-rhubarb to my sandwich came from my daily breakfast habit. I roast a batch every week, as I like to mix a big spoonful of it into my morning yogurt and granola.

I made the bold decision to add a smear of the compote to my sandwich. I threw in a few slices of pickled jalapeno for fun.

I was surprised to see fresh rhubarb at the grocery store. It was certainly not local, as Ottawa is still burried under a ton of snow. It was undoubtedly “forced rhubarb”. Most of the year, I use frozen fruit. Rhubarb begs for the addition of sugar. I added 1/3 of a cup for a 6 cups of diced fruit.

The melting qualities of Havarti cheese made it an ideal candidate for this sandwich. While making a grilled cheese sandwich seems to be a fairly simple thing, here are a few tips that can take your sandwich from meh to yeah!

  1. Grate or thinly slice the cheese. If you opt for slicing, dip your knife in cold water before each slice. It prevents the knife from sticking to the cheese.
  2. Butter the outside of bread, rather than just putting butter in the pan. You will get a more even golden crust.
  3. Low and slow for the heat. Don’t be impatient and crank up the heat. You will just end up with buttered toast and unmelted cheese.
  4. Sandwich the strawberry-rhubarb and jalapeno between two thin layers of cheese. rather than just one cheese layer. It helps to hold the sandwich together better and makes for more even melting.
Click here to print recipe for Havarti and Strawberry-Rhubarb Grilled Cheese

Indulge your inner child today and make these. The outer layer of crunch yields to a center of melted goodness. The tart fruit and spicy jalapenos are a wonderful surprise.