Accessories are important: rhubarb baked with maple syrup

Ah, ragazzi, the last spring/early summer fruit fest continues.  This time, the fruit that is really a vegetable (rhubarb), makes one of its periodic appearances here.   In the role of the co-star who steals the show.

Readers of this blog know of Annalena's fondness for the big red and green stems of rhubarb.  She's even ventured to try the leaves, but recommends that you not do that, especially if you are prone to things like kidney stones, gout, and so forth.  The oxalic acid in the leaves has been said to be toxic.  Truth to be told, it will give you a whopper of a belly ache, but Annalena didn't die, and she has seen animals in zoos, eating the leaves as if they were plain old salad.  But in any event, if you have leaves on your stalks, Annalena suggests that you get rid of them as well as you can.

It is fascinating to Annalena that we know, by heart, many of the different apple varieties. You can probably name ten or so without any trouble.  BUT... move to something like peaches, or strawberries... or rhubarb, and try to give different names.  Can't huh?  Well, for rhubarb, neither can Annalena.  Yet, when you see the stalks, you will notice, immediately, that there are differences in color, and in thickness, etc, which will tell you, as a careful shopper, that all rhubarb is not the same.  There is early rhubarb, late rhubarb, and in fact, Annalena learned recently that the stuff will grow all the way through mid fall.  The reason we don't see much of it after about the end of June is two fold. First, there are so many other fruits available that people lose their interest in a plant that takes some love.  Not many of us can eat rhubarb raw, and out of hand, the way we eat cherries, or plums, and so forth.  Hence, many farmers simply compost it.  Add to that the fact that while rhubarb grows in the heat, it doesn't LIKE the heat.  So, ragazzi, the stalks are tough and stringy, sort of like Annalena (well, tough anyway). Ultimately, if you're cooking it (which you are, if it's rhubarb), all it means is a little extra time, but you do have to work through peeling back some of the toughness.

Well, here is a recipe, also out of the Red Jacket book Annalena  has spoken of, that is easy and gives you something fun to work with.  This is so good, that even though it is spoken of, in the recipe, as an addition to a salad, Annalena wants you to move beyond the salad they give (watercress and goat cheese), and do other things with this.  You will want to.  And you'll have time.  Because....

Here's what you do.  You get your oven preheated to 450.  While that is happening, clean up a half pound of rhubarb.  When you've done so, slice it into segments about a half inch long.  You're looking for little "logs" ragazzi.  Have the stalk parallel to your body, and then make vertical cuts.  Put this in a bowl, with three tablespoons of maple syrup, and just a teaspoon of olive oil.  Toss it all together, and then dump it on a baking sheet.  Even it out into one layer, and put it in the oven, for about 7 minutes.

You're done.  Really, you are.  You now take this out of the oven and let it cool.  Completely.  If you touch the rhubarb now, in addition to burning yourself, you will cause it to fall into puree.  You don't want that.  At completely cool, it will retain it's shape, albeit in a softer form.  Pick it up carefully, and put it in a container to refrigerate it.

When Annalena tasted this as soon as it cooled, she thought of maple syrup baked sweet potatoes.  In her salad last night, however, it was reminiscent of sour cherries and Cape Gooseberries.  So, how do you like that?  The salad, by the way, was lettuce, treviso (a chicory), and a yogurt and honey viniagrette.  The dairy and sweetness seemed to really help accent the flavor profile of the rhubarb.  But Annalena feels she could eat this on its own.  Or mix it with strawberries.  Or perhaps puree it with strawberries into sorbet.  or... or... or....  And that's for you to fill in, ragazzi.  This will take you less than half an hour to make.  So make it, and make some magic.