POLL: Rhubarb! Rhubarb!

I don't. But some people get overly paranoiac about the leaves and won't even eat the stalks.

I am not a big fan but last night my daughter made a ruhbarb and apple pie that was out of this world. I think the apples somehow made the ruhbarb OK for me.

I probably would have said "no" until I got married a few decades ago.

Louise makes rhubarb pie, and strawberry rhubarb pie, and it is just amazingly good.

A few years ago, when we traveled to France, we had some traumatic stuff happen down in Marseilles, followed by a trip up to Paris on the TGV train using our last Centimes to pay for the tickets, and then got checked into our hotel and found ATM's that worked with the card I had left. So we left our suitcases and wandered out and found a nearby restaurant, very nice, and had a couple of bottles of wine -- and the side dish with the fish was rhubarb in an apple-sauce like format. It struck us as just extremely funny to be eating rhubarb in Paris and we both had a laughing fit for a few minutes. It was cathartic, and we were able to relax at last. it felt great.

Frank

So I was totally unprepared for the delightful and elegant dish that I was served last night at a pretty fabulous restaurant in downtown Vancouver: Foie Gras With Rhubarb Crumble. 'Crumble' is English-English for what Americans would call both cobblers and crisps

Hmm - I've been kicked in the cobblers, but never in the crisps.....

I voted not particularly a fan of rhubarb, though SWMBO certainly is, and there is a competition for the stuff we grow (David gets the first harvest and after that Suzanne keeps it to herself).

I thought that foie gras preparation was excellent as the acid of the rhubarb offset the fat of the FG nicely. In that sort of use, I can see it (though offered the same weight of additional FG would quickly eliminate any thoughts of rhubarb from my mind).

[Jenise]

A few years ago, when we traveled to France, we had some traumatic stuff happen down in Marseilles, followed by a trip up to Paris....It struck us as just extremely funny to be eating rhubarb in Paris and we both had a laughing fit for a few minutes. It was cathartic, and we were able to relax at last. it felt great.

Frank

Great story, it's the kind of stuff travel is made of and the moments you remember the most poignantly. Won't bore you with the details surrounding a McDonald's meal in Budapest we had once, but for much the same reason it was the most memorable meal we had there.

[Jenise]

I thought that foie gras preparation was excellent as the acid of the rhubarb offset the fat of the FG nicely. In that sort of use, I can see it (though offered the same weight of additional FG would quickly eliminate any thoughts of rhubarb from my mind).

You know what, you cause me to consider that some of the best foie gras dishes I've had have been in Vancouver. This would not be the best I've had (that vote would go to Lucy Mae Brown's for a particularly generous portion with wild mushrooms on frisee and a maple syrup-lemon drizzle), but certainly I'd vote it the most creative/surprising version ever/anywhere.

Yeah, it made a change from the more common pear or apricot preparation and it had more acidity which I thought was nice.

[Jenise]

Yeah, it made a change from the more common pear or apricot preparation and it had more acidity which I thought was nice.

Exactly.

Say, you baking up there? It's 84F here, don't know what that is in C but in the high 20's, certainly. Mucho hotto. Been hitting the iced tea since about breakfast. Needed the strength as my day has involved conversations with lawyers, sherriffs and people who rent trucks. Will fill in the details Thursday night, should make a great table topic.

Look forward to the legal stories.

I'll be making a terrine tonight. Think our friend George was scandalized that I am bringing a white wine....figures it must be a sure indication that the apocalypse is upon us.

[Jenise]

Look forward to the legal stories.

I'll be making a terrine tonight. Think our friend George was scandalized that I am bringing a white wine....figures it must be a sure indication that the apocalypse is upon us.

I look forward to your terrine! I miss being able to do anything very complex and exotic, but salad is a perfect fit for both my kitchen situation and the fact that the truck/sherriff/lawyer brouhaha all comes down Thursday morning. Not going to have a lot of free time. Haven't decided what I'm doing yet.

Love it.

And up till this year, I'd have said that it is the easiest plant of all to grow. We were given a root,split off from a friends plant, put it on a poor piece of soil where nothingelse survived and for years it has provided delicious rhubarb without any attention from us and no attention from parasites, insects, caterpillars, slugs etc that ravage everything else eatable that we plant.

But last year it sent up a flower, which we cut off. Then I divided it and planted half the root in anotherplot; that didn't survive and the original has not been so productive and again sentup a flower shoot.

Rhubarb produces very early, its the first fruit we can use. You can 'force' it, cover the plant with an upturned bin to get thin pale tender very early shoots. We don't.

It goes dormant over winter and continues to produce during summer if you keep pulling stalks.

We use it for crumbles (persnally I don't like oatmeal as it makes thecrumble to heavy and chewy)

It is so easyto make, just wash and cut the stalks into short, say 1 inch, pieces, put into deep dish, cover with crumble and put in a hot oven till the crumble top browns and juice starts to rise around the edges. Serve with custard or vanilla ice cream. (we don't add sugar to the rhubarb; there's sugar in the crumble and in the ice cream)

To cook rhubarb, do not add water. Just wash and cut the stalks into short, say 1 inch, pieces, put in a large pan over a low heat and stir so they don't stick until they release enough juice to cook in their own juice.

We use surplus rhubarb at the end of summer to make jams --delicious on scones.

There's a commercial rhubarb jam here inthe UK from Wilkinsons where it is combined with ginger to give it a kick.

I bracket rhubarb with gooseberries as theyhave the same sort of acidic sweet/sour flavour and people who like one tend to like the other and vice versa.

But the caterpillars are strppingall the leaves of my goosgogs as I write. There's zillions of the perishers .....