What's in Season? 5 sweet ways to use up rhubarb in March

The hardy root is heading out of season as we head into March - here are five ways to use up your stock and get a bit of baking in

Rhubarb: despite being a vegetable, its thick and fleshy stalks are treated akin to a fruit

Rhubarb crumble

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

This is my recipe for rhubarb crumble that is coeliac friendly providing you use gluten-free oats. If you don’t have oat flour, blitz your oats in the food processor and it’ll work just as well.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 3 large stalks of rhubarb, chopped into small chunks

• 50g caster sugar

• 100g oat flour

• 50g butter, cut into small cubes

• 50g caster sugar

• 50g jumbo oats

• 25g sunflower seeds

• 25g pumpkin seeds

Method

1. Preheat your (fan assisted) oven to 170°C.

2. Put the chopped rhubarb and the first 50g of sugar into the baking dish. Stir so that the sugar coats the rhubarb pieces.

3. Into a large mixing bowl put the oat flour and butter. Making sure your hands are clean, use the tips of your fingers to rub the butter and flour together until you get a breadcrumb like texture. *note you might find that the ratio of butter and flour makes it a bit 'chunky', that's fine it will balance out in the end. Add the sugar and rub the mixture together again. Finally, add the jumbo oats and seeds, then stir well so that all the crumble ingredients are combined.

4. Loosely sprinkle the crumble on top of the rhubarb in the dish. Never, ever press a crumble mixture down, it depends on the air you introduce to make it light and crisp! If you're not a fan of thick crumble then only sprinkle half the mixture on top of the fruit and put the rest in the freezer for another day. Crumble mixture freezes extremely well and this mixture is suitable for any fruit crumble, not just rhubarb.

5. Bake the crumble in the oven for 25-45 minutes, removing when the top of the crumble turns golden brown.

Cullohill rhubarb pie

recipe by:Darina Allen

With a delicate, buttery pastry and tart rhubarb chunks, this pie is irresistible for an afternoon summertime treat

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 2 hours 20 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 3 hours 5 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the pastry:

• 225g butter, softened

• 50g caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• 350g plain flour

• For the filling:

• 900g sliced red rhubarb (about 1cm thick)

• 370g  granulated sugar depending on whether you are using forced or garden rhubarb

• 1 egg, beaten

• dash of milk

• caster sugar, for sprinkling

• To serve:

• softly whipped cream

• Barbados/ soft dark brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. First, make the pastry. Cream the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food mixer. Add the eggs one by one and beat for several minutes. Reduce speed and mix in the flour slowly.

3. Turn out onto a piece of floured greaseproof paper, flatten into a round wrap and chill. This pastry needs to be chilled for at least 2 hours otherwise it is difficult to handle.

4. To make the egg wash, combine a dash of milk and beaten egg.

5. To make the tart, roll out the pastry 3mm thick, and use about ⅔ of it to line a suitable tin. Place the sliced rhubarb into the tart, sprinkle with sugar. Cover with a lid of pastry, seal edges, decorate with pastry leaves, egg wash and bake in the preheated oven until the apples are tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. When cooked cut into squares, sprinkle lightly with caster sugar and serve with softly whipped cream and Barbados sugar.

Strawberry and rhubarb pavlova

recipe by:Colm O’Gorman

Crisp meringue and sweet cream with sweet fresh strawberries and rhubarb roasted in orange and honey - a match made in heaven

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 2 hours 15 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 45 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 3 eggs

• 150g caster sugar

• 1 tsp white vinegar

• 2 tsp vanilla essence

• 600g strawberries

• a bunch of rhubarb, about 400g

• 1 orange

• 1 tbsp runny honey

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Separate the eggs. Whisk the whites until they are stiff with nice peaks. With your mixer still running at high speed, gradually add the sugar a tablespoon at a time until you have a glossy, stiff mixture. Do not over whip it though, you want a creamy, smooth mixture with stiff, glossy peaks. Just before the meringue is ready, add the vinegar and mix that through.

2. Heat your oven to 120°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Spread half of the meringue mixture onto each, forming discs about 25cm in diameter. Bake for two hours and then turn off the oven. Use a wooden spoon to hold the oven door slightly ajar and leave the meringue in there until the oven is completely cool.

3. Hull and quarter half of the strawberries. Add them to a pan with the lemon juice and one teaspoon of caster sugar. Cook over a medium heat until the strawberries are soft, and the juices reduce down to a runny jam-like consistency. Take the pan off the heat and allow the compote to cool completely.

4. Trim the rhubarb and cut it into 3cm long pieces. Toss it in the zest and half the juice of the orange, along with a tablespoon of honey. Bake the rhubarb in your oven at 180°C for about fifteen minutes, then remove it from the tray and low it to cool. If you like, you can bake the rhubarb at the same time as the meringue, just give it about thirty minutes at that lower temperature until it is soft and cooked through but still holding its shape.

5. Whip the cream along with two teaspoons of caster sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla essence. Wash the strawberries, cutting some in half, keeping the stalks attached. These are for the top of your pavlova. Hull and slice the rest.

6. Place one meringue on a serving platter. Spread generously with the Chantilly cream, and add the roasted rhubarb. Add the top layer of meringue, spreading that with the last of the cream. Now spoon over the strawberry sauce. Pile on the sliced strawberries, top off with the halved berries, and if you fancy it some fresh blackberries or flaked almonds for decoration.

7. You can prepare most of the elements for this dessert ahead of time. If you wish, bake the meringue, roast the rhubarb, and make the strawberry compote the night before you need the pavlova. You can then whip the cream, prepare the fresh fruit, and assemble the pavlova just before you are ready to serve it. Do not leave this dessert to stand for too long before serving it though, or the meringue will lose its crisp texture.

Rhubarb and strawberry tart

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

A light, buttery pastry with a hint of zest encases a delectable, vibrant fillling of summertime flavours

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 55 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the pastry:

• 225g flour

• pinch of salt

• 140g butter

• 55g caster sugar

• 1 egg

• zest of 2 oranges

• For the glaze:

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tbsp milk

• For the filling:

• 340g rhubarb

• 220g strawberries

• 100g golden caster sugar

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt. Rub in the butter and orange zest until it looks like rough breadcrumbs, do not over mix. Stir the sugar into the eggs, mix it lightly and add to the flour.

2. Rest the pastry for an hour in the fridge or overnight.

3. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 8in tart case. Roll a base for the case and gently lay it into the tin, pressing it down around the edges. Cut off any excess pastry and save it for the top of the tart.

4. Bake the case blind. Cover it in parchment and beans and bake for 10 minutes.

5. Beat the egg yolk and milk together for the glaze. Brush the base with half of the glaze and place back into the oven for a further five minutes.

6. Layer the rhubarb and strawberries with a sprinkling of sugar and repeat until all of the fruit is in the tart case. If the rhubarb is bitter, you may need a bit more sugar.

7. Roll out the rest of the pastry and make a top for the tart. Pinch it around the edges and cut a hole in the centre. Brush with the rest of the glaze and bake for 25 minutes until the rhubarb is soft and the top of the tart is golden.

Rhubarb and orange crumble muffins

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

A decadent morning treat

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 50 mins

Cooking Time

 18 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 8 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 225g fresh rhubarb

• 125g sugar

• 225g plain flour

• 2 ½ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg

• 1 large egg

• 125 ml milk

• 80g of melted butter

• 1 orange

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

•  

• For the crumble topping:

• 40g butter

• 40g soft brown sugar

• 40g flour

• 1/2tsp cinnamon

• 2 tbsp flaked almonds

Method

1. Wash and trim the rhubarb. Cut the stalks in half lengthways and then chop those into one-centimetre chunks. Put the chopped rhubarb into a bowl along with 50g of the caster sugar and stir to combine well. Set it aside and let it stand for fifteen minutes. Heat your oven to 195 Celsius.

2. Make the crumble topping. Cut the butter into small chunks. Combine the soft brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl then rub them together with your fingertips you get a nice clumpy crumb. Mix in the flaked almonds and set to one side for now.

3. Combine all the dry ingredients for the muffins, that is the flour, the remaining 75g of caster sugar and the baking powder, together in a large bowl.

4. Zest the orange and juice one half of it. Melt the butter. Lightly beat the egg in a bowl, and then add the milk, melted butter, orange juice and zest and the vanilla essence, and whisk them a little to combine them thoroughly.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix both together using a spoon. Do not over-mix the batter. It is fine if it is a little lumpy and not too smooth. If you over-mix the batter your muffins will be tough and may not bake evenly. Now add the rhubarb, folding it onto the batter. Again, do not over-mix it, just fold in the rhubarb to spread it throughout the batter.

6. Spoon the batter into muffin trays. I use silicone muffin trays that work brilliantly for me. My muffins never stick and bake very evenly. If you are using metal trays, line them with paper, or butter the insides before adding the batter.

7. Finally, spoon some of the crumble over each muffin, and pop them in the oven. Bake at 195 Celsius for eighteen minutes until the muffins have risen, are firm to the touch and the crumble is crisp and golden.

8. When you take them out of the oven, let the muffins cool for ten minutes before removing them from the trays. Then, if you can resist tearing into them straight away, let them cool for another twenty minutes on a wire rack. These muffins taste even better once they have cooled down a little as this will allow all the flavour of the fruit to come through. Serve immediately.