Why Do I Always Fry Rhubarb?
While apples and broccoli have become staple foods and are a fixture on grocery store shelves year-round, rhubarb is a vegetable unicorn. He only appears for a very short and magical window. I’ll see it on the market in about a month, and before I know it, I’ve missed it. That’s why I buy it in packs whenever I can catch it and get to work right away. Don’t cook it in a pan with a cup of sugar, no: my favorite way to prepare rhubarb for pies and cakes is by baking.
Roasting prevents things from getting soggy.
My first time working with rhubarb was right out of culinary school, when I made dozens of miniature strawberry and rhubarb pies. Actually I also ate this for the first time. To make these pies, we roasted rhubarb along with strawberries; the filling tasted like nature’s sour candy. I was hooked and decided that all rhubarb desserts would have the same hot pink hue and puckered bite as these pies. This was not the case.
Since then I’ve eaten several soggy rhubarb pies and soft pies and wondered why rhubarb could be such a hassle for everyone. Having recently chatted with a friend, I realized that many people are preparing their precious spring harvest in pots, essentially making compotes or jams, and then adding them to cakes and pies. While rhubarb remains delicious, cooking it this way results in a loss of color (muted pinks and browns) and, since it has little natural pectin, it becomes a bit cloudy. But you can avoid this fate with a simple and relatively quick oven bake.
How to fry rhubarb
There are several ways to do this depending on your preference.
Open roasting
My favorite way, just like we did at the bakery, is to cut the rhubarb into half-inch to full-inch pieces and add them to a bowl of chopped strawberries. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and stir everything together. (You can make this without the berries.) Pour this mixture directly into the baking dish and arrange it in a single layer. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350°F or until the strawberries and rhubarb have small puddles of juice and lightly browned edges. Let them cool completely before scraping them off.
Baking with a lid
Mix the chopped rhubarb with the sugar again, but this time pour it all into a casserole dish or other deep baking dish. Cover top with foil and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F. Let the dish cool with the foil in place.
I prefer the open roasting method because it removes some of the moisture and makes the flavor more concentrated. The lack of moisture also allows the hot pink color to remain natural and even deepen rather than disappear in the moisture. Personally, I think the biggest advantage of this method is that the rhubarb chunks don’t turn into mush. The plant cooks and softens on the inside, but also dries out slightly around the edges, providing some support. You can drop the pieces into the pie or cake batter and still be able to see the pieces on the other side.
Whether you decide to roast or not, it’s rhubarb season , so make the most of this holiday plant while you can.