It's Rhubarb Season!

I ran into my landlady in the Safeway this afternoon (I know that sounds weird but I live in a very small town outside of Corvallis, which isn't all that terribly large itself). We had a nice chat about the weather and the rental house. She and previous tenants have planted lots of beautiful trees, shrubs, herbs, and plants and I have really been enjoying discovering them as they come into bloom. The tulips and cherry trees are finished but the irises and a small dogwood are now taking over. There are three large rhododendrons in the front yard blooming in glorious varieties of pink.

She told me, the rhubarb is ready for harvesting. The rhubarb? Oh, that looming plant with the enormous dark green leaves. I had in fact weeded out that side bed just the other day and discovered the rhubarb as well as a bed of onions planted by the previous tenants. I didn't recognize the rhubarb but figured it was too large and permanent looking so I weeded around it.

I've never touched rhubarb before but I'm game. My first stop for some ideas was the BBC Food web site. If I had my Joy of Cooking, I probably would have also looked there, but it's on a slow boat from KSA. Of course the BBC comes through. I chose this recipe for rhubarb chutney. It suggests serving the chutney with gammon, a form of smoked pork, and I happen to have some boneless pork steaklets. But the recipe attracted me because I like making chutneys and compotes. They are so easy!




Here's a picture of the rhubarb cooking in the brown sugar with the rest of the ingredients ready to go in.

It took quite a while to cook the chutney down and the pork was still frozen so I'll defer the rhubarb feast until tomorrow. The flavors will be that much better!