SPRINGTIME RHUBARB-RASPBERRY COMPOTE
Spring is in full swing! This time of year calls for shorter sleeves, prettier blooms, and colder desserts. Preferably all at the same time. :) With Passover and Easter right around the corner, sweets are most definitely in high demand. Due to the lack of bread-eating for Passover, over the years my family has gotten creative with dessert. For as long as I can remember, my grandmother and mother have been making this delicious rhubarb and berry compote, which we serve over ice cream or sorbet, as an alternative to cake/pie/any other dessert made with yeast. The berry type ranges from year to year, but this year we opted for raspberry. This dish is also good enough to serve at all of your spring soirées, including Easter. Keep reading to find out how to make my family's old, but still lovely recipe for a light, refreshing, and cold treat.
Gather up all your ingredients.
Cut about a pound of rhubarb into 1/4 inch pieces at a bias angle. Make sure that you also cut off the ends of the stalk before you start chopping, and also beware of slimy and/or soft pieces, which should be thrown out. Rhubarb is a bit of a stringy fruit (yup, I looked it up), so don't be afraid to pull some of it off. Then throw all of the rhubarb pieces and the frozen raspberries into a large pot. On a side note, this recipe is traditionally made with strawberries, so go ahead and use them if you prefer the taste. My mom has an allergy, so we altered the recipe a bit. :)
Next, add the zest and all of the juice of one navel orange to the pot.
Then add the raw cane sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and water.
Place the pot over the stove on medium heat with a lid over it. Don't stir the compote too much since rhubarb is very delicate. Leave the pot with the lid on for about 20 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft.
Take the compote off the burner and strain it over a large bowl to get out some of that excess liquid.
Take half the liquid that was strained out of the compote and add it back into the pot. Cook until the consistency is syrupy for about 15 minutes.
Add the syrup back into the compote and give it a light stir. This dessert isn't necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing, but up close it's kind of pretty, right?
Ah that's a little prettier. There's nothing pink sorbet can't fix. :) Now here's the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 pound of fresh rhubarb
12 oz. bag of frozen raspberries
1 grated and juiced navel orange
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1/4 of raw cane sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of water
Directions:
1. Cut the rhubarb into 1/4 inch thick pieces at a bias (cut off the ends first). Peel away the stringy pieces if necessary and throw away the slimy/soft stalks.
2. Add the rhubarb pieces and frozen raspberries into a large pot.
3. Add the navel orange zest + juice, brown and raw cane sugars, vanilla extract, and water into the pot. Mix it all together.
4. Place the pot on the stove on medium heat with a lid over it. Occasionally you can gently stir everything, but otherwise keep the pot covered. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes and then turn off the burner once the rhubarb is soft. Let the pot sit for a few minutes.
5. Once the compote has cooled a bit, strain it over a large bowl and then place the pot back onto the stove.
6. Take half of the liquid that was just strained and add it back into the pot. Cook until it is syrupy for about 15 minutes.
7. Once the syrup looks done, add it back into the strained compote. Give it all a gentle stir and then pour it into a plastic container. Place this in the fridge for a few hours or until you plan on serving it.
8. Eat it over the ice cream/gelato/sorbet of your choice or just by itself!
Makes 6-8 servings and can be kept for a week at most.
That's all it takes! This dessert is incredibly simple to make, and it's also quite the crowd-pleaser. I look forward to this time of year because rhubarb is in season, and the spring holidays are always a great opportunity to welcome back the ingredient to the table. Despite the bread deprivation tradition of Passover, which I try oh so hard to uphold, this dessert helps me get through the week. What's not to love in a treat consisting of essentially fruit and sugar? It's almost like it's healthy?!?! Not really though, but whatever I'll still take an extra serving. :)
xoxo,
Emma