Rhubarb! How do you prepare/cook it?

[54321]

Help new house new garden, discovered rhubarb now ds wants rhubarb for desert tonight... what do I do can anyone provide a fools guide eg step 1 do I pick it/cut it from the garden step 2 do you just throw away the big leaves at the top step 3 do you need to trim it or just wash it and how do you cook it... worried about poisioning family! Can anyone help please???

hi there 54321, what my hubby does is trim off all the leaves then chop the stems into chunks. Put in a baking dish with sugar on top and a tiny bit of water and bake for 20 mins at about 190 degrees. Yummy with yoghurt and very easy !

Trim it so it looks like celery. Therefore, take the green tops off and the bottom roots off. Keep the sections that are pink (can't remember exactly what it looks like when home grown).

Wash and cut into 1 or 2 cm lengths. I made a rhubarb and apple crumble the other day which was nice. I had to fry the rhubarb and apple first before putting it in the bowl to cook in the oven. Don't know why as I am pretty sure you can just put it in the bowl and cook like a normal apple crumble.

Mum used to stew it. She would cut it up, add some water and sugar and reduce it down. Not too much water mind you.

If you ant to make the crumble then cut as said above, put in fry pan with little bit of water and sugar and cook for 5-10 minutes. Don't stir it too much as it will break up and you want to keep some shape/texture to it. Put in bowl once softened and then put crumble mixture over the top. Bake as normal.

To make a crumble top combine your plain flour and butter in a food processer along with sugar and I use crushed almonds too. Can't remember measurements as I'm at work at the moment but until it has a consistency where it holds together but is not too moist. Oh yeah, add cinnamon to the topping. To get a crunchy crumble flatten it all down firmly on top of fruit and then lightly run fork over top to loosen very top layer of crumble.

My mouth's water as I type.

Well I think you're all being horrid to poor Rhubarb - and her pregnant and all...

I forgot for a moment we had a rhubarb on mumsnet. I'm having a quiet chuckle to myself now that you have reminded me.

I wonder what else we can devise for poor rhubarb.

Throw away the big leaves as they are poisonous, otherwise wash and trim as others have said. I made a rhubarb crumble yesterday. Just put the chunks of rhubarb into a pie dish and sprinkle with 2oz sugar per pound of rhubarb (sorry, too old to think in metric). Either sprinkle with cinnamon or the juice and zest of an orange. Make crumble (6oz plain flour, 3oz butter, 2-3oz demerara sugar) and spread on top. Bung in oven at 180c for 30-40 mins. Yum.

Stewed rhubarb and cinnamon is lovely cold marbled with greek yoghurt. Also Delia
has a great recipe for Rhubarb Crumble Ice-Cream.

There are loads of recipes on the BBC website (even an Annabel Karmel one) or for more than you could possibly want to know about rhubarb try www.rhubarbinfo.com (I don't mean the Mumsnet Rhubarb obviously!)

We had some last night..... all i do is wash, chop and simmer in pot with a little water and sugar for approx 10-15 mins to taste and serve with custard.......

I have a lovely recipe for rhubarb and coriander tart which I can bring into work with me and type out if you like....its scrummy.
rhubarb is great just stewed with custard.

Tessie - please send me the recipe (via this thread is fine) for the tart you mentioned. Sounds delicious.

I'm new to rhubarb cooking myself and was quite pleased with my first crumble. Now I know it is easy I want to keep going.

When we were little we used to love chewing on raw sticks of rhubarb - really eye wateringly tart. My mum used to make us a little egg cup with a mixture of dessicated coconut, sugar and chocolate powder that we would dip the rhubarb sticks in. It had a funny name like Krugers Whiskers I think because once you start chewing the rhubarb it goes stringy and with the coconut mix on it looks a bit like old mens whiskers with old food stuck on them - lovely.

Please don't eat me!

There is a scrummy recipe in April BBC Good Food for a rhubarb and custard cream tart. I made it a few days ago and it went within hours (supposed to serve 6 or 8 but my 3 greedy kids scoffed the lot ) Definitely recommend it.

Oh I see, start on Custardo now why don't you!

thank you thank you and more thank yous... so much for all your responses mumsnetters are the best - my son is delighted that I have done as promised, had to go out in the pouring rain to get it!
Sorry Rhubarb re puns! Speaking of which I love custard...o

My Gran used to give it to us with a 'pokie' - a little corner of a paper bag (which is known as a 'poke' in Perth, where I came from) filled with sugar, and you dipped it in and ate it raw. Gorgeous. Rhubarb crumble is one of my faves too, but you already have the recepir for it below.
The 'crown' (thats what the roots are called) that I have in my garden now is an offshoot of the crown my Dad has in his garden, which in itself was part of the crown from my Grans garden, so we are eating the same rhubarb as I used to eat as a child. Makes me all nostalgic!

Susanmt, that's how we used to eat it too. Thanks you've just brought back some lovely childhood memories here also!

Oxocube - agree with you about that rhubarb tart recipe - absolutely gorgeous!!!

As kids, we used to have brown bread & butter with our rhubarb & custard. Sounds strage, but it's good! (I think it may have been a combination that my dad made up though, rather than a regional speciality as he claimed )

Anyone fancy giving me the recipe for the rhubarb and custard tart you have mentioned. I admit I'm lazy so haven't gone looking for it but would love if you could take the time to post it for me.

Thanks

I'd like to see both the rhubarb and coriander tart recipe and the one for rhubarb and custard cream tart. I've got a stock pot full of rhubarb, all peeled and chopped this morning ready to make a couple of crumbles with (I stew mine first to get rid of the juice and adjust the sweetness).

What is the best way to freeze rhubarb? Just prepared and chopped, or stewed with or without sugar? Any 'different' recipes would be most welcome, crumble, pie and jam get boring.

Pam, will post the rhubarb and custard tart later in morning. It is really good !

Meant will post the recipe (obviously)!

Actually, a ready made one would be lovely - want my address? Thanks.

The link below for the rhubarb compendium is excellent, loads of different recipes and growing tips, I just need to translate the americanisms.

Okay Pam, Here is the recipe from April 2003 Good Food.

Rhubarb and custard pie with butter crumble topping

ingredients:
350g rhubarb
100g golden caster sugar (I used ordinary)
350g sweet shortcrust pastry
1 large egg and 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp plain flour
284 carton single cream

(and for crumble topping)
50 g melted butter
50 g demerara sugar
50g porridge oats
pinch ground ginger

1. Cut rhubarb into bite sized pieces and put them in the frying pan with half the sugar and warm through until the sugar just dissolves. Immediately tip the rhubarb into a bowl, with its juices and leave to cool.

2. Use pastry to line a 24 cm deep loose based flan tin and bake blind at 180 C for about 20 minutes until pastry is pale golden colour.

3. Beat together the egg and extra yolk with vanilla, caster sugar and flour. Gradually whisk in the cream and any juice from the rhubarb. Now spoon the rhubarb into the prepared pastry case and pour the cream mixture over it.

4. Bake for about 20 mins until custard is lightly set or with a thin skin over the top.

5. Mix together the ingredients for the topping and spoon them over the pie. Return it to oven for another 15 minutes until crumble is golden.

Hope your greedy lot enjoy it as much as mine!

Thank you, I might give that a go next week.

I thought rhubarb was POISONOUS raw!

Really? You can eat it raw?

I think there are two types of rhubarb. only one you can eat raw