Rhubarb Rosemary Country Cocktail
In the continuing saga of my search for something “different” to do with rhubarb, I discovered this cocktail recipe from Bon Appetit that really intrigued me. They call it a Double R Daiquiri, and I had a little time last night and it was SO hot outside that a nice cold cocktail sounded totally perfect. So I decided to give this little cocktail a try.
Now, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly — I accidentally threw all the sugar into the rosemary syrup, leaving none left for the rhubarb. Also, I didn’t wait several hours after cooking up the syrups like the recipe said. The two contrasting liquids seemed quite cool enough within a half hour or so to throw over rocks to me …
But really, I have to say the taste of this drink struck me more like a country cocktail than an upscale daiquiri. Perhaps it had something to do with the mason jar glass I put it in, but that light pink lemonade-ish tone along with the combination of sour, sweet, and earthy flavors just said “country roads” to me. I could almost break out singing a John Denver tune when I sip on this one … so forgive me, Todd Thrasher (the creator of this drink), I love your drink recipe and I hope I don’t offend you by doing so, but when I serve it, I’m going to call it a country cocktail.
Rhubarb Rosemary Country Cocktail
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
Rosemary syrup
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup rosemary leaves (I just cut a bunch of twigs from my little rosemary plant … I didn’t measure them, and I didn’t bother to take them off the stalks either … they are going to get strained out in the end, after all)
Rhubarb juice
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3 cups chopped rhubarb
- 1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
For the cocktail:
- 1/2 cup rhubarb juice
- 1 shot rum (I used Bacardi golden rum)
- 2 Tablespoons rosemary syrup (more or less to taste)
- 1/4 of a lemon
- Slice of lemon and sprig of rosemary, for garnish
Directions:
- In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and water for the rosemary syrup and heat to boiling, stirring till the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the rosemary. Let the rosemary sit and steep for at least 15 minutes, then strain out the rosemary.
- Meanwhile, combine the rhubarb, water, and lemon juice in a blender and pulse into a coarse puree. Strain through fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. I strained it through a cloth, then squeezed the cloth to release most of the juice out of the puree.
- Now, the recipe says to refrigerate the rhubarb for 4 hours or more … I didn’t have THAT much time last night! So stick them in the fridge (or freezer?) and wait until both the liquids are cooled down enough to make a cocktail. You can make these in a pitcher if you want … see the original recipe for instructions on that. I wasn’t going to drink a pitcher-full last night by myself, so I had to improvise on an individual serving. This is what I came up with: fill a tall glass (or mason jar) most of the way with ice. Pour in 1/2 cup of the rhubarb juice, add a shot of rum, a couple tablespoons of rosemary syrup, then squeeze the juice out of 1/4 of a lemon and put it in the glass along to release the oils from the peel as well. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and a slice of lemon (or a lemon peel twist) and enjoy!
This recipe was shared at Summer Drinks Potluck Party.
Rhubarb Salad with Gorgonzola & Goat Cheese
Do you ever get bored with your ingredients? I asked my mom for some rhubarb because I wanted to make some rhubarb crisp and try chia seeds in place of the tapioca, but then that just didn’t sound good. I wanted to try something DIFFERENT with my rhubarb.
So the idea struck me … could you put rhubarb in a salad? Why not? I did a quick search on google and found a few different recipes for rhubarb salad. They all involved roasting the rhubarb in sugar or honey. Honey sounded better to me than sugar. I added some sweet onions and gorgonzola to the recipe to kick it up a bit, and a few chrysanthemum leaves to the greens to add that peppery taste and topped it off with a honey lemon ginger vinaigrette.
Rhubarb Salad with Gorgonzola & Goat Cheese
Adapted from yumsugar. This amount of rhubarb is about right for a big one-person salad or two side salads.
- Chopped walnuts
- 1 cup rhubarb, washed and cut into chunks
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- Mixed greens (throw in a few chrysanthemum greens if you happen to have an organic chrysanthemum plant about)
- Sweet onion, sliced and quartered
- Gorgonzola & goat cheese crumbles
- Honey Lemon Ginger Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Spray a small baking sheet with cooking spray. Set the walnuts on the tray and toast in the oven on the bottom rack at 400 for about 5 minutes … or until they are fragrant and slightly browned. Watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Remove the walnuts from the baking sheet.
Mix the rhubarb with the honey and place it on the baking sheet. Bake at 450 on the top rack for about 5 minutes or until the rhubarb is just beginning to soften. Let the rhubarb sit for a few minutes in the fridge to cool.
Once the rhubarb has cooled a bit, fill your bowl most of the way with mixed greens, toss in the sweet onion and rhubarb, sprinkle with the cheeses and toasted walnuts and drizzle with the vinaigrette.
Honey Lemon Ginger White Wine Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 Tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Mix everything except the olive oil together in a bowl till well mixed. While whisking, slowly pour the olive oil into the dressing in a small stream. Keep whisking until the olive oil is well mixed into the dressing. Refrigerate any leftover dressing in an airtight container. Before use, take it out of the fridge for a few minutes to let the olive oil “melt” again (it will solidify in the fridge) and shake well.
This recipe was shared at Newlyweds Recipe Linky, Fit & Fabulous Fridays and Summer Salad Sundays.
Mulberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal Crumble
Is this baked oatmeal breakfast or dessert? I styled it like a dessert, with a pouf of whipped cream on top because it TASTES like a decadent fruity dessert, a lovely warm fruity crumble with a crunchy topping and a fruity sauce on the bottom. But really (if you skip the whipped cream) it is a quite healthy breakfast full of fruit, fiber, and protein. I love breakfasts like that.
This is something I’ve been meaning to try ever since Ann at The Fountain Avenue Kitchen posted her Strawberries & Cream Baked Oatmeal. When I met mom and dad for lunch last Sunday, they brought me some rhubarb. To me, that seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out this “baked oatmeal thing”. After trying this delicacy, I may never go back to eating regular oatmeal again …
Mulberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal Crumble
Adapted from Nutmegs, seven
- 3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch lengths
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (100g) old fashioned oats (not instant oats)
- 1/3 cup (30g) almonds, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup (60g) brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (250ml) milk
- 1 large egg white
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons flaked almonds
- 1/2 Tablespoon or so of raw (Turbinado) sugar
- 1/2 – 1 cup mulberries (or other berries)
Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Spray a small casserole dish or 8×8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Scatter the rhubarb over the bottom and toss with the sugar and vanilla.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix together the oats, chopped almonds, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, milk, egg white and almond extract.
- Sprinkle your oat mixture over the rhubarb evenly, then pour the milk mixture over the oats as evenly as you can. Sprinkle with mulberries, raw sugar and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of flaked almonds.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the dish has set and turned a lovely brown and crunchy on top. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
If you want to serve it for dessert, serve in wedges with a little dollop of whipped cream. Or just scoop it out in warm spoonfuls into a bowl for breakfast with your coffee or tea in the morning.
This recipe was shared at It’s a Keeper Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Fit & Fabulous Fridays and Weekend Potluck.
Ginger Rhubarb Rum Cake
A while ago, I spent a day playing with rhubarb and one of the things I made was ginger rhubarb sauce … the reason I made that sauce was for this idea for a rhubarb rum cake I had floating around in my head.
The first time I made the cake, I was really unhappy with it. It just wasn’t the cake I had pictured in my mind. I gave it to the neighbor and she and her dad loved it, so I figured perhaps I was being too self-critical.
So I made the cake again, with a few improvements. I fed some to my friend and asked him for his feedback. He is not a huge rhubarb fan so he liked that the rhubarb was not “in your face” like so many rhubarb dishes are. I, on the other hand, AM a rhubarb fanatic so I love “in your face” rhubarb dishes, but that wasn’t what I was going for here. I was trying to let the taste of the ginger, the rum, and the rhubarb gently interplay with each other.
I was worried that the cake was too dense, but he challenged me there. Who says a cake has to be light and fluffy? After I tossed out that pre-conception, I fell in love with this cake. It’s moist and dense and flavorful. It does have that delicate interplay of rhubarb, rum, and ginger and they really play so nicely together. I’ve been eating this cake for breakfast all week. Yes, breakfast. What? Who says you can’t eat rum cake for breakfast? I replaced all of the butter in the cake with the ginger rhubarb sauce, used half whole wheat flour for fiber, added pecans and rhubarb, it’s even got yogurt in it. It’s really not so bad for you. I think it’s a very pleasant way to start your day… or if you prefer, you could serve it with afternoon tea or at a dinner party.
Ginger Rhubarb Rum Cake {Lowfat}
Adapted from Squidoo
- 1/2 cup ginger rhubarb sauce (recipe here … if you don’t want to make the sauce, substitute some applesauce)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
- 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Rum syrup / glaze (a.k.a. “cake paint”)
- 1/3 cup ginger rhubarb sauce
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup golden rum
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the rhubarb ginger sauce, honey & sugars to make a smooth mixture. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and yogurt and whisk till smooth.
- Add the flours, ginger, salt & baking powder and stir till everything is fully incorporated into the batter. Fold in the rhubarb & pecans.
- Spray your baking pan with cooking spray and then dust with flour. I used my grandma’s bundt pan (even though the batter filled it only about half-way), but you could also bake it in a 13x9x2 inch pan if you like. Pour the batter into your pan and bake at 325 for about 50 minutes. Test it with a toothpick to see if it’s done. Let it cool for 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven, then turn the bundt pan over onto a plate.
- Make the rum syrup by heating the ginger rhubarb sauce with the sugars and butter till hot and bubbly, then stir in the rum.
- Using a basting brush, “paint” the cake with the rum syrup several times, giving it several minutes to soak into the cake between paintings. My daughter helped me with this part. She loves painting things. She decided the glaze should be called “cake paint”.
This recipe was shared at Weekend Potluck.
Ginger Rhubarb Sauce
I picked a big bunch of rhubarb when I went to visit my mom on Mother’s Day. She has these two huge rhubarb plants that always yield way more than you could ever eat. You can eat rhubarb to your heart’s content and still have more. The funny thing is even as much as I took, it didn’t even begin to thin out the plants.
Anyway, I decided yesterday I was going to cook my rhubarb … I chopped it ALL up and put it in a BIG bowl, looked on the Internet for some ideas, and then I started playing … the first thing I made was Royal Rhubarb Crisp, my very favorite thing that Mom used to make for us when we were kids. Then I made this sauce with intent to turn it into a rhubarb slushie, but my experiments went a different direction. This is a really versatile sauce … You can eat it like applesauce or use it in baking or make a glaze for a cake with it … you can even put it in salad dressing! It’s not very sweet, though, so if you want it sweeter, add some sugar or honey or agave or whatever sweetness you use in your kitchen. I may try making a cocktail with it too … we’ll see if there’s any left for that!
Ginger Rhubarb Sauce
- 3 cups rhubarb
- 1 cup orange juice
- 5 thin slices fresh ginger root
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender. Pull out the ginger slices. Puree the sauce in a blender (or just use it as is). I blended mine up till smooth.
Baked Strawberry Rhubarb French Toast for Mom
My mom loves strawberries. I know this because I remember, as a child, she always wanted one of her kids to go to Dairy Queen with her on Mother’s Day to get her free sundae. And she ALWAYS got a strawberry sundae. So I always ALWAYS think of strawberries on Mother’s Day.
My mom doesn’t live anywhere near a DQ anymore. And my dad happened to mention to me last week that they really needed to stay home and plant the garden this weekend. So my daughter and I decided that we should go surprise them with a visit. After dance rehearsal on Saturday, we hopped in the car and drove up there. We arrived a little after 5:00, walked in the house, and it was empty. Heeeeeellloooo? Mom? Dad? Anybody home? No response …but their dog was there … and the front door was open … so I knew they couldn’t be toooo far!
Mom was down on the dock, checking the fishing lines. That’s my mom, always fishing. Or reading. Or gardening. And dad? He had gone off mushroom hunting. Mom tried to call his phone, but she was having trouble. So I called him.
He made it really easy for me NOT to tell him we were there at his house. He mentioned right away he was on his way home and told me about his mushroom hunt and how I would have to call mom on her phone … he asked what I was doing. “Oh, not much,” I said. We talked for a while … and I managed not to say anything about us visiting … So he was a little surprised when he drove in … hee hee.
Anyway, I made them some thai curry for dinner last night … and then I made this for mom for breakfast today. Because she loves strawberries … I think Mom really enjoyed it … And then we planted the garden together. It’s been a long time since I have helped with the planting of the garden.
I love you so much, Mom. There isn’t anything I can give you, let alone anything I can do for you to thank you for all that you’ve done for me. I feel like this is such a feeble attempt at saying thank you … but I just felt like the best thing I could do as a daughter on Mother’s Day was to just BE with you. That’s the best Mother’s Day gift I could think of. I can’t take you to Dairy Queen for your strawberry sundae anymore. But I CAN make you something wonderful with strawberries …
We ate breakfast on the patio in the sunshine, overlooking the lake. I think it was much better than Dairy Queen. I hope my Mom agrees …
Baked Strawberry Rhubarb French Toast
Adapted from “From Valerie’s Kitchen“
- About 4 1/2 cups of bread, cubed (I used my dad’s whole wheat yogurt bread)
- 4 oz. Mascarpone cheese
- 2 cups of chopped rhubarb
- 1 cup of chopped strawberries
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- Sliced fresh strawberries
Directions:
- Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch glass or ceramic (non-metal) pan with cooking spray. (The acid in the rhubarb will react with metal, so I like to use glass pans when I’m baking with rhubarb.) Make a layer of bread cubes in the bottom of the pan. Top with the rhubarb and the chopped strawberries, and add dabs of the Mascarpone cheese. Add the rest of the bread cubes.
- Mix up the “goop” … in a bowl, whisk the eggs, then add milk, vanilla, almond extract, 3 tablespoons sugar and spices. Whisk till smooth. Pour over the bread cubes in the pan, then gently stir to make sure all the cubes get moist. At this point, you can cover the pan and refrigerate for an hour or several or even overnight. I just let it sit for about 15 minutes, and gently stirred around the cubes again to make sure all the bread cubes got a good soaking. It made a little bit of a mess with the mascarpone, but now we’re going to add the topping so that will make it all pretty again.
- About an hour before you’re ready to eat, make the topping by melting the butter. Then in a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and almonds. Sprinkle this all over your french toast bake, then add fresh sliced strawberries to your heart’s content.
- Bake at 350 for about 40 – 45 minutes or until the eggs are set. Let the dish set for about 5 minutes after you remove it from the oven, then serve.
This recipe was shared at Mom’s Everyday Meals, Mealtime Monday, Trick or Treat Tuesdays, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Delicious Dish Tuesday, Cast Party Wednesdays and This Week’s Cravings: Eggs.
Raspberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding
I make this pudding at least one time every spring when the rhubarb comes in.
So it was Easter weekend, we were up at my mom and dad’s place and my mom’s rhubarb was one of the few things that was already growing. It was still small, but I couldn’t resist picking some of it and making my favorite bread pudding. I made it for breakfast and the pudding didn’t last long … both the kids and adults loved it. I think the pretty color of the berries and the rhubarb lured everyone in. I didn’t have much time or opportunity to photograph it. They didn’t quite seem to get that I need to take pictures of my food (and that’s funny because it’s not like me taking pictures of food is a NEW thing) … but then, I’m not all that used to having a lot of eager eaters around either.
I split it up into two puddings: one with pecans on top, one without (on the off chance that my daughter who doesn’t like nuts would try it … and she did!), but you can do this all in one casserole dish.
Raspberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding
- 6 cups of bread cubes
- 2 cups milk
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups fruit (I used 2 cups rhubarb, 2 cups raspberries this time, but I’ve also done this pudding with all rhubarb or all berries)
- Chopped pecans & raw sugar, for the top
Directions:
- Spray your casserole dish with cooking spray. Put the bread in the casserole dish. Pour the milk over the bread and let the bread cubes bask in their milk bath for about 15 minutes, tossing gently every once in a while to give all the bread a chance to soak.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs till they are a little fluffy, then add the vanilla, sugar, nutmeg and salt and whisk till everything is well blended. Mix the rhubarb and berries into the egg mixture.
- Fold the fruit into the soaked bread. Top with pecans and sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of raw (turbinado) sugar.
- Bake at 350 degrees F. for about an hour or until the pudding is set.
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This recipe was also shared at Weekend Potluck, Successful Saturdays, and Meatless Mondays.
Royal Rhubarb Crisp
One of my favorite summertime memories as a child was my mom’s rhubarb crisp … she called it “Royal Rhubarb Crisp” … and we felt royal when we ate it. It had that lovely tart-sweet taste with a little bit of brown sugar crunch on the top, but I think it was the combination of mandarin oranges and rhubarb that made it so special.
It’s so simple to make but you can only make it in rhubarb season … UNLESS you freeze some rhubarb so that when, in the wintertime when the world is white and you are starved for a taste of summer, you can pull out some rhubarb from the freezer and make this and remember the color and taste and sound of summer …
Royal Rhubarb Crisp
I like to increase the amount of fruit, increase the spices, and decrease the amount of sugar whenever I can. It makes things so much healthier, and then you get to savor the taste of nature. Usually I cut the amount of fat too, but in a crisp you need the butter in the topping. This still turns out to be a very healthy dish with less than 30% of the calories from fat.
Ingredients:
- 4- 5 cups chopped rhubarb (frozen works well too!)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
- 1 1/2 t. good quality vanilla
- 1 (11-oz.) can mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup cold butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl toss the rhubarb, sugar and tapioca. Let stand for 15 minutes, tossing twice.
- Pour into a lightly greased square 9×9 or 8×8 baking pan and top with the mandarine segments.
- In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats, flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well.
- Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle the topping evenly over the rhubarb mixture.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
This recipe was shared at Katherine Martinelli’s Easter Blog Hop.
