This
Dish
It’s rhubarb time! How fantastic is this? I love rhubarb! With its beautiful soft pink stalks, its stringy strings and its fabulously tart flavour.
Rhubarb always makes me think of my early days in Luxembourg. When I was little there was wild rhubarb growing in the property behind our garden. It was a disused back-garden of some stationery shop, and there, in the midst of that wild property, were batches and batches of rhubarb plants. So, every beginning of summer, our mum would send me and my sister on a mission to go and pick some of that wild rhubarb. It was one of our favourite adventures.
We felt like hunters. We would fight our way through the stalky hedges that separated our garden from the rhubarb ‘garden’, and come back with a few cuts and bruises and a big bunch of those pink stalks, which mum would transform into heavenly rhubarb tarts. Sweet thin shortcrust pastry, with a layer of sweetened rhubarb. I still dream of these tarts today. I’ll have to get that recipe. Mum, if you read this, please email the recipe over! I’m dying to make that tart!
So the other day I did my weekly fruit and vegetable shopping on Inverness Street Market. It’s a tiny market tucked away within the maze of hippie stalls around Camden. There, in the midst of heavily pierced Punks handing out flyers is a little haven of three food stalls. One selling fruit, one selling vegetables and one farmer’s stall selling seasonal British produce. It’s at the latter that I spotted a big bunch of rhubarb. I immediately had to buy some, even though I had no idea what I was going to make with it yet.
Afterwards, I was sitting in the sun on Camden Market, drinking my daily cinnamon cappuccino, and resting. My friend and barista at my local coffee shop F. came out to join me and spotted the bags full of market goodies next to me. F. was especially intrigued by those deliciously pink stalks sticking out of one of my bags. “What is this?” he asked. “Well, that’s rhubarb.” Blank stare. “Rhubarb. You know, what they put in crumbles and cakes?” Still a blank stare. F. had no idea what rhubarb was, let alone what it tasted like. I guess they don’t have rhubarb in Turkey where he’s from. “It looks African” was his final conclusion. No idea where he got that idea from, but hey, interesting comment, right?
So this got me thinking. How can you describe what rhubarb tastes like? Sour, tart, tangy? Goes great with custard, fantastic to put in crumbles, cakes and tarts? It all doesn’t seem to make that wonderful fruit any justice. I think everyone has to taste it for themselves!
Anyway, why not discover the fabulous world of rhubarb with this compote recipe? It’s damn simple, and damn tasty.
And whilst we’re at it, why not add some nice cake to go with the compote? I had some left-over egg whites in the fridge, so I was thinking about making financiers. It’s been on my to-do-list for a long time.
When I found this honey version, I knew I’d have to try it. I’ve had this amazing honey waiting in the cupboard to be used for a while. Tweedside honey, from a little honey farm in the UK. It was a present from my lovely, cool, superfriend Sian, who knows the people at the honey farm. Man, such great honey! It totally set the tone for these financiers!
The financiers themselves turned out absolutely lovely, crisp on the outside, and melting inside. Best serve them straight out of the oven, or on the same day, since they tend to lose their crispness if you store them overnight. But, either way, they’re delicious little golden cakes. Lovely. ★
and how was the honey?! I had the luxury of sampling both of these components separately, both amazing!
Looks beautiful and delicious!
Super, Anne! Merci! Deen schmaacht just esou gudd wei meng Mamm en deemols gemaach huet!
Love your pictures and this post! I am a follower that thinks your blog is great.
Very delicious and definitely decadent!
lovely photos…..and recipe sounds sooooo good 🙂 I’ll have to try it.
Hi,
I found your blog through foodgazing.com. The compote and the financiers look delicious. I’ve never tried to make anything with rhubarb before, but now I’m inspired! Your recipe looks so easy.
Thanks for sharing.
i have never added cinnamon to stewed rhubarb but loved the idea and will give it a go. i back you on the choice of both the rhubarb as financier. I just love financiers. They are my favourite sweet treats ever.
Thank you all for the lovely comments!
Evelyne, this totally made my day! It’s an honour to hear it tastes like your mum’s compote! May the rhubarb compote tradition live on happily ever after!!!
Hello Anne,
It was so lovely to meet you at FBC yesterday. I’m spending the morning going through and looking at the blogs of those people I met yesterday, I was right, I have looked at yours before.
Reading through this post brought back memories of when I lived in London. I lived just up the road from Camden and used to shop at the Inverness Street Market. I’m glad to hear it’s still in business. I’m on a quest to find the ultimate rhubarb compote recipe so will give yours a go…
Thank you Michele! I’m not sure this is the ultimate rhubarb compote, but in my books it’s pretty damn good! The secret lies in the cinnamon 🙂 It was lovely to meet you too, I’ll add you to my blogroll!
Good to meet you over the weekend and your blog looks wonderful.
I’m another one that has never used cinnamon with rhubarb but I often grate fresh ginger and a little black pepper in before cooking for a little hot to go with the sharp and the sweet. Total breakfast treat with plain yoghurt.
Hallo, finally I get chance to catch up and come and say hi on here! I must confess I did sneak a peak straight after last weekend but it’s only now that I’m finally getting around to proper comments. Your blog looks fantastic and I love these pictures with those pretty red spoons. I have never been inventive with rhubarb in the past but it’s really grown on my lately and looks good paired with these financiers.
I look forward to reading all your future posts and thank you for the cupcake link too!