Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb. My father would often mutter this when at a loss for words as I was growing up. Apparently the line came from a movie that was released the year I was born, a remake of Erik Syke’s 1969 film “Rhubarb” it’s what the extra’s would be told to mutter to give a general sound of background conversations and apparently the only word said in the film. I find it hard to cook with rhubarb without remembering this hence rhubarb recipes hold a fondness for me that offers instant comfort.
I love a free form tart, there is something about them that just wreaks of necessity. Mothers grabbing for the butter, flour and sugar and what ever old fruit they have on hand in order to present an effortlessly glamorous dessert at a minutes notice. This is how it happened for me this evening. I told my boyfriend at dinner that I had some rhubarb in the fridge that I intended to make a beautiful rhubarb pie out of for the following night, his reply….Why not tonight? To that I didn’t have a great answer, so I threw out the idea of making the perfect crust in the perfect dish and steered my recipe toward the more rustic free form tart. I’m not going to give a recipe here just some guidance.
- Use your favourite short crust pastry recipe (a nice sweet one)
- Make sure you chill it before adding your filling
- Cook any old fruit or rhubarb you have on hand and allow it to cool and drain
- Don’t spread the filling out too much, you want a nice amount of pastry left to fold inward on top of the filling
- Dust with icing sugar and serve with ice-cream; I am yet to come across a hot tart that cannot be improved by some beautiful vanilla ice-cream.
I didn’t completely follow step three here (I didn’t drain off the rhubarb properly) so my tart did leak a little. However this dessert did not disappoint, it was a slice of instant comfort.
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