Tuesday, July 17, 2007

word of the week: rhubarbia.

freezing blustery melbourne day that it is, i've been inspired to blog about my latest delight. roasted rhubarb and raspberry stew.

rhubarb is the perfect winter fruit. well, vegetable. interestingly, they discovered that its leaves were poisonous after encouraging people to eat them during wartime because of food shortages and rationing. i read this the other day, but i'm sure that someone figured this out long before whichever world war it was. whatever the case, chop the leaves off unless you feel like a dose of the very nasty sounding corrosive and nephrotoxic acid -oxalic acid.

according to wikipedia - the world's most correct information source (of course), the word rhubarb used to be shouted randomly by acting extras, to create general crowd noise. so the word has evolved to mean "length of superfluous text in speaking or writing". to 'rube'. hmm, does that give me license for - rhubarbism? rhubarmentary? rhubarbia? i like the possibilities. "oh really, what rhubarbia". much more appetising than "what rubbish".

in some places in canada, it is also a street name for weed. the recipe that follows can be used for rhubarb pie/crumble/stew. i cant promise any mind-altering effects but its the perfect munchy for freezing weather.

2 bunches of chopped (2cm) rhubarb
1 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries
2 apples, peeled and eighthed (or 16th-ed if you feel particularly dextrous)

sprinkle some nutmeg (extra for hallucinogenic impact :);
generously scatter brown sugar (depending on your sweet tooth);
pour in some apple cider vinegar (around 1/4 C);
and add some knobs of butter if you want some extra indulgence.

roast in a dish (corningware or something) for 30-40 mins on 170 degrees... give a mix during the cooking time.

eat warm or cold; use as filling for crumble or cake; or my favourite- with vanilla icecream and crumbled halva... MM-HMMM. tangy.

apologies that there's no photo - it would make for a fabulous pic but my camera is sunning in the middle east at the moment.

1 comment:

lucy said...

Sounds perfect for this so very cold day!! Love rhubarb and sounds like a great recipe...will try asap. I sometimes make apple and rhubarb crumble and add some lemon witht the sugar... Love the site, a topic worth talking about!!