whether rhubarb and strawberry are doing a song and dance or about to joust (hard to tell without sound) doesn’t seem to matter to papa goat… he just wants to pounce on pie

when i was growing up, one of our family traditions was to have strawberry rhubarb pie for my dad’s birthday every july. my dad was the lucky one with timing of his birthday as this makes a deliciously balanced sweet and tart pie that can only be improved upon by a bit of ‘a la mode’ action. (i, on the other hand, was born in october and have still never gotten into the whole pumpkin pie thing…)

rhubarb is one of the first local ingredients to spring up in the midwest and one of the few things to fill our green city market when it first opens.  i remember a few years back i did one of the first chef demos of the year (check out the green city market website for this season’s demo schedule, greencitymarket.org), and stressed about what i was going to do seeing as the market was filled with just rhubarb and asparagus.  i decided to focus on rhubarb… wanting to show people that although it is delicious in pies and other desserts it is great in savory applications as well.  it is great quickly pickled (see pizza recipe from a few weeks back) and then used as a topper for salads, grilled fish or meats, or really anything you want to add a little spring zing to (wow i can’t believe i just said that).  i also enjoy cooking down some rhubarb with strawberries and a bit of onion to make a sort of ‘agrodolce’ (italian sweet and sour), or adding a little kick and making a tangy rhubarb bbq. 

rhubarb recipes to come as the week goes on… good testing time for me as my cooking demo entitled ‘all things rhubarb’ at the first annual better homes and gardens chill and grill rapidly approaches