Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Quest for rhubarb, and a crisp

I went to 8 stores in one day and all I brought you was this lousy picture. Sorry. The day the April recipes were announced I started looking for rhubarb, as I'd already been craving it for a while. I went to half a dozen stores, but no luck. I didn't worry too much, as I still had a week before leaving town, The next week the quest started in earnest. I tried everywhere but the closest I came was a shelf labelled 'rhubarb' in the freezer of a health food store. Even the fancy fruit store didn't have any imported rhubarb. What to do? Skipping the recipe was out of the question. I almost bought a jar of rhubarb jam, but worried that it'd be too sweet. I finally found a $7.00 jar of Bon Maman rhubarb compote, which didn't look like much, but was only lightly sweetened.
Of course, nice strawberries were out of the question--I didn't even bother looking for those. I don't love cooked strawberries anyway, so I used frozen raspberries instead. I halved the sugar in the filling and doubled the rhubarb, making the filling a tart contrast to the sweet topping. The bits of candied ginger in the crisp part were a nice touch, but I did find the filling a bit gloopy from the cornstarch. I'll reduce that next time. I ate this for breakfast, dinner and dessert for the last week before my trip and I can't wait to get back home to my oven to make more!
Thanks so much to Sarah from Teapots and Cakestands for choosing this recipe. She'll have the recipe on her site. As always, you will find links to all the takes on this recipe at the TWD site.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kudos for your dedication to finding the rhubarb!

Jules Someone said...

You totally win! I only went to five stores to find mine! And I found the same empty shelf! Love love love this one. Yours is gorgeous!

Gloria Baker said...

look amazing and delicious! love this! gloria

Cindy said...

My garden rhubarb is about 2 weeks away. So I went with a frozen fruit mix and strawberries. Loved the ginger, will make this again soon.

Unknown said...

Sorry you couldn't find any! Adding raspberries sounds great though--thanks for baking along with me!

Mimi said...

I couldn't find rhubarb either, so I bought a rhubarb plant. Of course my son, the major rhubarb lover declared that one plant wouldn't be enough, he may be right. Your crisp looks so tasty.
Mimi

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Sounds like you had some great meals! ;) After seeing all these posts, I'm wishing I had leftovers!

Peggy said...

Wow. Eight stores. That is dedication for sure! It isn't in season here so I just bought some frozen. Guess I was lucky they had that! Lovely crisp.

Unknown said...

I am so lucky we seem to have everything year round, this crisp is delish

Nicole said...

I used frozen rhubarb and had no trouble finding strawberries so I guess we have good food selection where I live! I also wish I would have cut the sugar. It was a bit too sweet for me.

Mary said...

I think you went above and beyond to find the rhubarb...i couldn't find it either and had none left in the freezer from last year. I have made it before and it is really good.

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

I am having the identical problem with white asparagus for a challenge, after 7 stores I found some in jars, nothing fresh. Amazing dedication indeed to get you dessert made.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't find fresh rhubarb either (though I didn't look at 8 stores), but I did have some strawberries in the freezer that I picked last summer. This crisp was delicious!

Valerie Gamine said...

Wow, 8 stores...talk about dedication/obsession. :D

I love raspberries, so I bet they were great with the extra rhubarb. Well done, and way to be a true Tuesdays with Dorie baker!

Elaine said...

Thank god for the frozen fruit in the freezer! Really, some days are just like that - driving around looking for that one elusive ingredient. So glad you had frozen raspberries on hand. Your crisp looks delicious!

Flourchild said...

It looks great!!! Way to sub the Rhubarb with raspberries!

Anonymous said...

Can we have one when we visit, please?

steph- whisk/spoon said...

good subs! mine was a bit gloopy, too, now that i think of it (i can see it in my photo)...i'll go make a note to reduce for next time.