Rhubarb!

It's not for everyone but rhubarb is a favorite at our house, not least because of its ease of production, preparation and versatility. Always a welcome sight when the snow disappears, rhubarb is abundant now so we're enjoying it regularly and on a quest for new rhubarb recipes.  Have found quite a few over the years, savory as well as the more familiar sweets. A couple of new ones tried this year:

• Mark Bittman suggests adding it to his 'Simplest Dal" recipe in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
• Rhubarb Jam with Rosemary and Acacia Honey in Christine Ferber's Mes Confiture. I've found that this is getting better as time goes on.
  

Then there are our traditional favorites, like this Baked Rhubarb Compote from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Fruit. 

The annual rhubarb agenda also includes rhubarb chutney, but when I went hunting my recipe and couldn't find it I happened upon The Rhubarb Compendium which includes a chutney with less than 1/4 of the sugar that my other recipe uses. I was able to locate it with the assistance of the resident recipe archivist but put it back on the shelf and decided to give the new one a try. It's in the jars now and the recipe says to leave it for at least a month but we'll have to see about that.

So what's next up? Rhubarb Upsidedown Cake w/ Anise? Rhubarb Meringue Pie? And we're always open to something new so if you have a favorite rhubarb recipe, we'd love to know about it.