Food & Drink

Sweet ’n’ sour ROASTED RHUBARB

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Roasted rhubarb is a wondrous thing. The colour becomes even more intense, and the taste is both tart and sweet. You can adjust the amount of sugar to your liking, using less if you prefer things on the sour side and more if you want to sweeten things up a little more. Feel free to add, as I often do, a scraped vanilla bean, pod and all, or perhaps some orange rind for a nuanced citrus note. Be sure to keep the rhubarb-infused syrup from the pan—the best by-product of the roasting. It’s a delicious addition to a glass of soda water along with a splash of lime juice. Note: Some of the recipes in this collection call for 1 recipe’s worth of roasted rhubarb. You may not use it all, but anything left over is delightful over yogurt or ice cream. Hothouse rhubarb (sometimes called “forced rhubarb”) is grown indoors over winter and available in early spring. The stalks are tender and pink, unlike rhubarb grown outdoors which can be stringy and red-green in colour.

1 lb (455 g) trimmed Ontario hothouse rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2-inch (4-cm) pieces

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

2 Place rhubarb in a single layer in 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33-cm) baking dish. Add the sugar and toss to combine.

3 Bake the rhubarb for 15 minutes, stir gently and continue baking for another 5 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Cool completely, then refrigerat­e, along with the syrup. The rhubarb can be roasted and stored in the refrigerat­or up to 5 days.

Makes about 2 cups (500 mL)

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