{"id":512,"date":"2010-05-27T12:36:16","date_gmt":"2010-05-27T17:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/?p=512"},"modified":"2010-05-27T12:36:16","modified_gmt":"2010-05-27T17:36:16","slug":"fruit-or-veg-crisp-or-chutney-rhubarb-does-double-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/2010\/05\/fruit-or-veg-crisp-or-chutney-rhubarb-does-double-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Fruit or veg? Crisp or chutney? Rhubarb Does Double Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Technically, I said I was going to write about fruit as well as vegetables when I started this blog. So I could give myself permission to write about rhubarb\u2014if it were a fruit. Which it\u2019s not. (Technically it\u2019s a vegetable).<\/p>\n

And technically I could have given you a crisp recipe, but I usually use Karen Barker\u2019s great Rhubarb Brown Sugar Crumble recipe<\/a> over on the Fine Cooking website. So instead I\u2019m offering up my favorite savory concoction, Rhubarb-Dried Cherry Chutney.\u00a0 (It\u2019s quick and easy to make and would be really great if you\u2019re grilling pork tenderloin or even chicken this weekend).<\/p>\n

And technically (sorry, but I\u2019m lacking in a diverse vocabulary today) I should have blogged about rhubarb when it first poked out of the ground here in late April. But I didn\u2019t. Time slips, you know. Or skids. Or something.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Fortunately, judging by the picture I took at our farmers\u2019 market last year (stalks, above right), rhubarb is still thriving in June.<\/p>\n

I took the other photos in April a couple years ago when I first got to the Island. (Not technically, but actually.)\u00a0I was so fascinated by these bushy plants, which I sometimes found growing near old farmhouses, that I often stuck my camera down beneath their leafy canopies to capture the luminous underworld below, a forest of pink and pale green stalks writhing in dappled sunlight.\u00a0The flowers (not edible) were a surprise to me, too.<\/p>\n

If I had ever snatched any of this farmhouse rhubarb (which I didn’t), I would’ve been sure to trim all the leaves away before cooking. It annoys me to no end when I see rhubarb stalks for sale with the (toxic) leaves still attached. Do not eat the leaves. Period.\u00a0 And know that the stalks themselves are quite tart. Delicious, but tart. They must be cooked with something sweet, and preferably lots of it.<\/p>\n

Sure, sweet strawberries are the classic partner for rhubarb. But in reality, rhubarb appears on the scene so many weeks ahead of fresh (local) strawberries, that it\u2019s nice to have a recipe or two on hand that showcases rhubarb alone. A crisp maybe, or a chutney.<\/p>\n

Rhubarb & Dried-Cherry Chutney<\/h2>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

1 cup medium-diced fresh rhubarb<\/p>\n

\u00bd cup small-diced onion<\/p>\n

1\u20444 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries<\/p>\n

1\u20444 cup granulated sugar<\/p>\n

1\u20444 cup sherry vinegar<\/p>\n

1 Tbs. honey<\/p>\n

1\u20442 tsp. finely grated lemon zest<\/p>\n

1\u20444 tsp. kosher salt<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and simmer over medium to medium-low heat until the onions are mostly translucent and the juices are beginning to thicken, about 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula, until very thick, another 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.<\/p>\n

Yields about 1 cup.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Technically, I said I was going to write about fruit as well as vegetables when I started this blog. So I could give myself permission to write about rhubarb\u2014if it were a fruit. Which it\u2019s not. (Technically it\u2019s a vegetable). And technically I could have given you a crisp recipe, but I usually use Karen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[8,14,1,19],"tags":[59],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":539,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}