Last week I was delighted to receive a bundle of freshly picked rhubarb from my mom. I’ve quickly discovered that one of the problems with moving half-an-hour away from mom is that I don’t have free access to her garden. And that spring garden of rhubarb and asparagus is truly a treasure. I’m scoping out a space to plant a rhubarb bush here, but in the meantime, my supply is dependent on mom picking an occasional bunch to bring me when she comes to town.
We were thrilled with the first bunch of the year- fat and juicy, but what to do with it? I was really thinking about a crisp or a crumble, and then our weekend arrived and the rhubarb was stashed into the fridge for another day.
I’m so glad I waited for another day! Yesterday I came upon an article that Mark Bittman wrote for the New York Times last week, and with it, was a recipe for a really basic and simple Rhubarb Crisp. I love Mr. Bittman’s recipes and his easy, carefree approach to cooking. Even better, his crisp was strictly for rhubarb crisp, where most recipes are a strawberry-rhubarb combination. I needed to make his recipe, and in true Bittman style, I adapted as I assembled to suit our tastes.
As I read his article about using just a 1/4 cup of sugar in the rhubarb, I just knew that wasn’t going to be enough for me. Rhubarb is so tart! While I knew the topping would contribute lots of sweetness, I just wasn’t convinced that 1/4 cup of sugar was going to sweeten 6 cups of tart rhubarb. I doubled that. I used 1/2 a cup of sugar- still not a lot, considering, but more to what I thought would be acceptable. He recommended adding lemon or orange juice, and since I had some fresh orange juice in the fridge, I used that- only I used about 3 tablespoons instead of 1, and then I left out the zest, since my whole oranges were looking a little anemic.
Everything else I did according to plan- with the exception of using the food processor. I just used a pastry blender to cut the butter into everything and chopped the nuts with a knife. It worked fine and saved me the hassle of having to disassemble and clean the processor.
The house smelled amazing while this crisp baked, and I sent Andy out to pick up some fresh whipping cream to be whipped. Just a short while later, we were sitting down to two amazing bowls of Rhubarb Crisp. It was easy, delightful, and a wonderful taste of this seasons rhubarb. I still found it quite tart, so I think 1/2 a cup of sugar is definitely the way to go.
I won’t repeat the recipe here, instead I’ll send you to the New York Times to check it out. It is definitely worth your time to make it.
