Recipe: Roasted Rhubarb

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Tomorrow on Good Food, Laura Avery interviews Amelia Saltsman about what she likes to do with rhubarb. Rhubarb is more common in colder climates, but you can find it at both Mud Creek and Trevino’s stands at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Amelia likes to roast it with a little brown sugar to preserve the brilliant color. Keep reading for her simple Roasted Rhubarb recipe…

Roasted Rhubarb
(from Amelia Saltsman)

I love putting an unfamiliar vegetable through its paces to see what treatment it likes best. We don’t get a lot of rhubarb in SoCal, so it’s not often I play with it. Turns out, roasting rhubarb with a bit of brown sugar preserves the ruby color and luscious texture of this unusual vegetable and turns it into a tart-sweet accompaniment that is great with cheeses and smoked meats. Or, you can spread it on toast or serve with vanilla ice cream. Freshly ground black pepper gives a warm glow to this quick rhubarb conserve.

1 pound rhubarb stalks
1/3 cup light brown sugar
Several grindings of black pepper, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim dry ends off rhubarb stalks and discard. Cut rhubarb into ½-inch pieces. Don’t worry about peeling the strings away; they’ll soften up in the cooking. Place the rhubarb in a non-reactive pan (this is important: use ceramic, glass, or stainless steel). Toss with the sugar and black pepper and spread rhubarb evenly in a roughly single layer (a 9 x 13 pyrex pan is great for this). Roast until rhubarb is tender and browned in places, and the sugar has caramelized, 25-30 minutes.

Makes about 1 ½ cups.

©2012, Amelia Saltsman.