Sunday, June 14, 2009

More Rhubarb

Rhubarb season is still going strong, and will be for quite a while yet. If we weren't leaving on vacation this week, I'd probably make and can Rhubarb-Ginger Jam, and Rhubarb-Ginger Chutney. But alas, no such luck, although maybe with another sort of luck the rhubarb will still be good when we get back from our travels.

This week I had two rhubarb dessert plans involving rhubarb, so I went to the garden and pulled a few of the largest stalks.


First up, for a movie screening we attended Friday (of Nobody Knows: the Untold Story of Black Mormons) was a remake of Rhubarb-Ginger Tart, which I first invented a couple of summers ago. This time I baked it in eight smaller tart shells, doubling the original recipe, and I remembered to take pictures.

Here is the rhubarb macerating with the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and ginger:


And the baked tarts (which were a huge hit topped with vanilla ice cream):


I also decided to try rhubarb ice cream, based on the Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream I made, once again this year, for the end-of-season potluck. I made 2.5 batches of the Sweet Cream Base, then mixed in one recipe of the Stewed Rhubarb, and froze it in my big ice cream maker. It was none too rhubarb-y; next time I'll try it with a slightly bigger batch of Stewed Rhubarb--definitely not double, but maybe 1.5 times as much.

The rhubarb macerating before stewing:


The eggs, sugar and milk before heating to 180 degrees over medium heat:


The finished product:


The cake we ate it with (the Fluffy Yellow Cake I used in the Rhubarb Cream Cake, with the chocolate frosting that accompanied it in Cook's Illustrated):


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Macaroons Again

I used the last of my leftover egg whites for another double batch of macaroons today, this time from whole roasted almonds. I haven't filled any with ganache yet, and they are already incredibly delicious. Roasty, chewy, really, really nutty. I've eaten about a dozen (they are only 1.5" across) already.

PS They were even better with the ganache!