Renowned for its medicinal properties in ancient China, rhubarb is due for renaissance. So to accompany the feature on our website, we thought we’d provide some inspiration with regards to rhubarb recipes.
Because it’s quite tart, you may be surprised to learn that this nutritious vegetable – unless you’re in the US, where it’s classified as a fruit – is just as good in sweet and savoury dishes. The classic rhubarb dish, which rose to fame in the UK, is the desert rhubarb crumble.
Below you’ll find a savoury and sweet recipe, plus links to lots more…
Rhubarb Sponge Pudding
This delicious desert serves four and takes around 15mins to prepare and 45mins to cook.
Heat oven to 180°C. Beat 100g soft butter and 100g caster sugar in a bowl until light and creamy. Add 2 large eggs one at a time, beating well.
Gently fold in 100g of sifted self-raising flour, until you have a slightly creamy liquid batter.
Cut 500g of ripe rhubarb stalks into 2cm lengths, throwing away the leaves. Arrange loosely in a greased 1l pie or baking dish, and scatter with 100g of extra caster sugar.
Spoon the batter mixture on top of the fruit in clumps, then smooth them out to cover the rhubarb. Bake for 45mins, or until the topping is golden and cake-like. Serve with cream.
Roast Leg of Lamb with Rhubarb Salsa
Place 1 boned leg of lamb on a bed of carrots (peeled and cut lengthways) in a roasting dish. Combine 100g of honey, 2 cloves of garlic and 1tbsp of red wine vinegar over heat. Once combined, brush over the lamb.
Roast lamb at 180ºC for 2-3hrs, brushing occasionally with any remaining glaze mixture. Once cooked, remove from the oven, place on a tray and leave for 10-15mins before carving.
In a stainless steel saucepan, combine all the salsa ingredients – 1 chopped onion, 100g of raisins, 2 chopped red chillies, 1/2tsp of ground cardamon, and 10 sticks of finely sliced rhubarb.
Cook slowly over a low to medium heat for 5mins, while stirring. Place a lid on the saucepan and cook over a low heat for 5mins more. Remove the lid and turn up the heat to boil off excess liquid. Remove from the heat and serve at room temperature.
More rhubarb recipes
Plus check out Delia Smith’s fabulous Rhubarb and Almond Crumble
Gluten-free Girl and the Chef’s rhubarb recipes
…and click here for even more rhubarb recipes…
