WAYS OF SERVING RHUBARB

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 540, 28 October 1949, Page 22

WAYS OF SERVING RHUBARB

crat of the pie plant family, and very much nicer than the brownish, rather _ stringy, mushy dish which many people think of as stewed rhubarb. It can be served in many attractive ways. Casserole Rhubarb Cut: the pink, crisp sticks of rhubarb into pieces about an inch long. Put them in a casserole, sprinkle with sugar, add water not quite sufficient to cover, put in 2 or 3 strips lemon peel (without pith), and cover with a properly fitting lid. Put in the lower part of oven, when you are baking meat, perhaps, and thus not heating the oven specially. The rhubarb must be cooked slowly, so that the pieces remain whole. Remove the pieces of peel before serving plain, as a breakfast appetiser, or with custard or cream. It is delightful with junket. Rhubarb Bread Pudding For this you need bread, a little milk, some brown sugar, a little butter, and good crisp rhubarb. Cut bread into Yin. thick slices, and pour over them a little milk without making bread too moistWith a little butter grease sides and bottom of a pudding bowl, sprinkle it thickly with brown sugar, then line with the bread slices. Cut rhubarb into 1 inch lengths and arrange a layer in pudding basin. Sprinkle with sugar to taste, place a layer of bread slices on top, and on these place a few small knobs of butter. Add another layer of rhubarb, continue until basin is full. Have layer, of bread on top, sprinkle with sugar and a few pieces of butter. Cover closely and steam 1 hour, being careful to keep free from water. Serve with custard sauce. Scottish Rhubarb Pudding Remove crusts from some thin slices of bread. Put layer of slices in piedish, and just cover with boiling stewed rhubarb "in whole inch pieces and sweetened. Repeat layers of bread and boiling rhubarb until dish is full, the top layer being rhubarb. There should have been just sufficient juice to soak into bread. Now make up a packet of jelly crystals in usual way, any desired flavour. Pour jelly gently and regularly over the dish, and leave to set. This will turn into .a very nice jellied shape, and can -be served "as is" or with cream. Rhubarb Caramel Pudding Cream together about 3 tablespoons each brown sugar and butter. Spread this all over inside of slightly greased basin. Over this, line basin with suet crust (double the amount of flour to that of shredded suet, a little salt, and baking powder, all mixed with water then rolled out). Half fill lined basin with rhubarb in inch-lo pieces, sprinkle with brown sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a little water. Pile on more rhubarb, filling basin right up. Cover with a pastry lid, then a piece of 0 rhubarb is the aristo-

butter paper and either bake or steait approximately 112 hours.: Turn out on hot dish. Boston Bundles Cut spring rhubarb into pieces about 4 inches long, and gently simmer till tender but not broken in a syrup made by boiling together 42 cup honey, 1/2 cup sugat and % cup lemon juice. Make a good shortcake pastry with 142 cups flour, 144 teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, pinch of salt and % cup shortening, mixed to a paste with a beaten egg and a little milk. Roll out about ‘% inch thick and cut into rectangles about 6 inches by 3. On each rectangle lay 3 or 4 pieces of the cooled. rhubarb, and roll up, leaving the two ends open, Bake in a shallow greased baking tin in. a moderate oven, about 375 degrees, or Regulo 5. After first 10 minutes pour the syrup over them, and continue baking till pastry is cookedabout 15 minutes longer. Serve hot.: Rhubarb Jelly Sweet €ut rhubarb into inch lengths and stew with a little sugar till soft but unbroken. Have ready some stale sponge cake cut into fingers. Arrange in a pretty dish alternate layers of rhubarb and cake fingers. Make a packet of jelly crystals and pour jelly over while still fairly hot, and leave to set. Turn out and decorate with whipped cream. Rhubarb Meringue Half fill a piedish with stewed, hot pulped rhubarb and juice. Cover with thick fingers of stale bread. Beat 1 or 2 egg yolks, according to size of dish, and allow % cup milk to each yolk, and 2 or 3 teaspoons sugar. Pour this over the bread. Whip egg whites stiff, with pinch of salt and a dessertspoon of sugar to each white. Drop meringue in blobs on top of bread, and bake in moderate oven till custard is set and the meringue a pretty brown-about 20 to 30 minutes. Individual Rhubarb Jellies 7 Stew gently till tender but not broken about 1 pound spring rhubarb cut into inch pieces. Make a syrup first with sugar or honey and water boiled *together, and drop in the pieces of rhubarb, Drain off syrup and make it up to a pint with hot water. Use this to dissolve a packet of jelly. When cool and just setting, whip it to a froth. Divide rhubarb pieces among individual glasses or moulds, and pile some frothy jelly on top of each. Leave to set. , When turned out, decorate with a sprinkling of coconut and half a walnut. Can be made in one big jelly mould if preferred. Pour alittle good cold custard around the turned out jellies.