Rhubarb

Rhubarb

by Sheila Packa

Celebrate bitter things
after long winter
rhubarbs' red green stalks
and partial sun
shared with cutworm and fly
and ants that come—
no house can resist their arrival.
Life's too much or not enough—
savor the undernote of butter.
Smile in dandelions' faces
after the rabbits take other blossoms.
Taste from the plate I've heaped
tart rhubarb

ripe strawberries and sugar.

The rhubarb plant in the corner of my parents' garden has been there for as long as I can remember. It keeps producing, year after year, with little care to such an extent that it provides plenty of stalks for them as well as friends and family. The only concern that persists is that its wide leaves spread broadly in circumference and crowd the other vegetables.

I am convinced that rhubarb may be the easiest to plant with certainty of a harvest for the novice gardener. Soil quality is not of importance, since you can regularly amend it with compost and mulch. Rhubarb needs plenty of sun and water and a year to establish its roots. By the second year, you will reap abundant rewards. Since the leaves are poisonous and soon discarded, they elude the deer and may endure a bit of damage from the weather or pests without worry.

I planted two rhubarb plants last year that are now well established and provide a steady supply of stalks. Rhubarb freezes well when trimmed and chopped, and I have already frozen at least a half dozen two-cup portions for the winter. Still, the production of the pair persists. As such, I have been searching for exceptional rhubarb recipes which help to elevate its common status closer to its true potential as a prized ingredient. Here are two delicious dessert combinations that compliment rhubarb with ginger and lemon both from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson.

Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Bundt Cake

Cake:
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose, unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and very thinly sliced (3 cups prepped)

Lemon Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, more as needed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10-cup bundt pan.
2. To make the cake, sift the 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, then stir in the lemon oil. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. The batter will be very thick.
3. Toss the rhubarb with the 2 tablespoons of flour and fold half into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining rhubarb on top.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until the center springs back when lightly touched. Cool the cake in its pan on the wire rack for 30 minutes before inverting and removing the pan.
5. To make the lemon glaze, whisk the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and butter together. The mixture should be thick. If it’s not, whisk in another tablespoon or two of the sugar. Spread the glaze over the cake as soon as you remove it from the pan.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Rhubarb Buckle with Ginger Crumb

Topping:

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cake:

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and thinly sliced 

1.    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan.

2.    Make the topping: Mix sugar, flour, and candied ginger together in a bowl, then stir in melted butter. Put the topping in the freezer while you mix up the cake.

3.    Make the cake: whisk flour, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Using a handheld mixer with beaters, or a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Gently fold in rhubarb.

4.    Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until lightly golden, and firm on top.

5.    Store wrapped in plastic, at room temperature, for 2 to 3 days.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Color

I took the week off from gardening and cooking to focus on painting. My younger daughter was out of town, and I wanted to paint her study. It was once her playroom, but now has converted to her study as she grows up and school continues to become more serious each year. I thought I might share the color choices I have made as NOLD is undergoing a makeover.

When we bought NOLD two years ago, the entire house was painted a cream color except the bathrooms which were painted an institutional blue. I know plenty of people choose whites and neutrals for flexibility and a uniform look. I am not one of them. In fact, raising a family, I am astonished at how much white paint now pervades home magazines, including white kitchens and baths. I think the work it would take to keep it clean around here would kill me. 

As such, we are repainting with plenty of color. However, I have tried to stick to historic shades to remain true to the age and style of our British Tudor Revival home. Don't get me wrong -- it takes me a long time to choose colors, but I do get a strong sense of what appeals to me in a given space. I like to live in a new home for a while first. And, I like to have a visual flow such that the colors meld as you look through entryways from one side of the house to the other. 

I use Sherwin Williams paint and am now partial to painting swatches to see how a color really looks. I want to make sure I like it and know that dark colors, in particular, take several coats (and sometimes primer). After I tried to photograph small bits of the colors already gracing NOLD, I was reminded how much light plays into how a color is seen as well. It was challenging with my camera, but I hope you get a feel for what I am trying to accomplish. Oh, and I hope you enjoy the names of the colors, too.

Exterior Trim -- Crimson Red

Living Room -- Studio Blue Green

Foyer/Stairwell/Landing -- Colonial Yellow

Dining Room -- Kirsch Red

Den -- Revel Blue

Kitchen -- Springtime

Library -- Softened Green

Older Daughter's Bedroom -- Coral Bead

Older Daughter's Bedroom -- Cheery and Chalkboard Paint

Younger Daughter's Bedroom -- Gala Pink

Younger Daughter's Bedroom -- Friendly Yellow and Begonia

By the way: I would love to be the person who names colors for a paint company. I think I would have so much fun!

Midwest

Ask a passerby what states make up the Midwestern United States, and you will get a different answer every time. Some will even say that the Midwest includes everything between New York and California except for the deep South. Growing up in Wisconsin, I never really considered North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri to be part of the Midwest, but I believe they technically are along with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

I only mention the Midwest, because I want to recommend three cookbooks from the Heartland that I own and appreciate. Each contains recipes from a broad range of Midwestern states and would make a wonderful gift singly or as a trio. Practical, beautiful, and interesting reads, you may want to add them to your own collection to turn to repeatedly in the kitchen for inspiration and guidance. New or tried and true, these cookbooks are certainly worth a peek:

Celebrating the Midwestern Table by Abby Mandel

 The New Midwestern Table by Amy Thielen

Prairie Home Cooking by Judith M. Fertig

I found a favorite new and easy pea salad in Prairie Home Cooking that I wanted to share. In late spring, our local farm stand carries two cup bags of fresh shelled peas. Exceptionally flavorful and perfect for this salad, these peas are worth buying in bulk and freezing for future use in any number of recipes like this throughout the year.

Use turkey or uncured bacon, whole grain pasta, and well-aged cheddar for nutrients and full flavor.

Iowa Pea Salad

3 strips bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

1/2 cup chopped green onions with some green

2 cups cooked peas, fresh or frozen and thawed

1 cup cooked macaroni

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients. Chill for at least 2 hours. 

Index

I am an organizer. I love to bring order to a project and believe this was one of my strengths as an administrator. At home, I straighten a closet, label containers, and schedule our calendar. I need a certain amount of order and organization to function well, to get my head around my workload, and to enjoy a task at hand. This is my nature at its very core.

So, I am pleased to share that I have started two indices on my blog: a poetry index and a recipe index. You can find the tabs at the top of the left hand column. I hope this will make it easier for my readers to find a recipe of interest or to return to words of insight and inspiration. Let me know how it goes.

Today, I hope to add three recipes to the recipe index. As I worked my way through each quart of strawberries in the flat I bought the previous week, I knew there were a few more related recipes to share. One of my favorite simple salads for early summer is made of fresh greens, cut strawberries, roasted nuts (if desired), and Poppy Seed Dressing.

This milk-based Poppy Seed Dressing is quite simple and rather delicious, if I may say so myself.

Poppy Seed Dressing

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Combine ingredients with a whisk. Serve with a fresh greens, fruit (such as strawberries), and nut (such as slivered almonds) salad or toss just prior to serving.

One of my favorite pies is a fresh strawberry pie from Fresh Market Wisconsin by Terese Allen. This cookbook is an old favorite which contains numerous recipes that I return to repeatedly and remains true to the farmers markets of my youth. It tops a layer of fresh, hulled strawberries with a creamy strawberry sauce.

Not too sweet, Bea's Fresh Strawberry Pie is refreshing and suitable for the first hot spell of summer.

Bea’s Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 quart fresh strawberries

1 9-inch deep dish pie shell, baked and cooled

½ cup granulated sugar

⅓ cup honey

⅛ teaspoon table salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

1. Rinse, pat dry, and stem strawberries (but leave 6-8 berries unstemmed, for garnish). Arrange 2 cups stemmed berries, hulled side down, in pie shell.
2. To make filling, mash the remaining stemmed berries in a saucepan. Stir in sugar, honey, and salt. Heat slowly, stirring often, until mixture comes in to a boil. Mix cornstarch with ¼ cup water, and then stir slowly into the boiling strawberries. When thickened, remove from heat and stir in butter. Cool filling, then spread in pie shell. 
3. Chill thoroughly prior to serving.

Finally, no recipe index would be complete without Grandma's Pie Crust Mix. Prepared in advance and at the ready for Bea's Fresh Strawberry Pie as well as any pie baking that should come along, I have to share the recipe the way I see it as I bake in my own kitchen. It is written in my mother's beautiful script, shared from generation to generation in written form on a note card.