Skip to main content

Rhubarb Fool, and thank you







Thank you to all of you who have written and sent emails about the earthquake in Christchurch.
Our family is well but the situation is still bad in the city and around. 

It feels unreal to be in Auckland, so far away: now more than ever I appreciate a roof over my head, water and electricity, and a garden full of food.

Today I picked my first rhubarb for the season, it looked a bit green, but I was happy to see that inside the stalks were quite pink.



I confess I don't feel much like cooking these days, so I opted for something really simple. I cleaned and chopped 700 g of rhubarb stalks. In a pot I put 500 ml of water, 4 tbsp of sugar and a few drops of lemon. When the water was boiling I dropped in the rhubarb. I waited for the water to boil again and then, as soon as a white foam formed, I drained the rhubarb, collecting the water into another pot.

I set the stalks aside and boiled down the water until I go a thick syrup.




I whipped 300 ml of cream and added the cooled rhubarb syrup, making a quick rhubarb fool. Top with pieces of cooked rhubarb.


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©



Labels:

Comments

  1. DanaFebruary 26, 2011 at 11:18 PM

    Alessandraaaa! Ma come faccio a starti dietro!
    Non so come sia finita sull'altro tuo blog ma mi dispiace perderlo. Puoi mandarmi una mail o lasciare scritto sul mio blog i tuoi link. Intanto metto questo nel mio blogroll altrimenti rischio di non trovarti più!
    Ti abbraccio!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlessandraFebruary 26, 2011 at 11:22 PM

    Scusa Dana, mi sa che ne ho troppi :-) ti mando i link :-)

    ciao

    A.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DanaFebruary 26, 2011 at 11:43 PM

    E io che faccio fatica a gestirne 1!
    Grazie! Finalmente posso decidere dove venire a trovarti!
    Buona notte!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hiperica di Lady BohemeFebruary 27, 2011 at 1:28 AM

    Complimenti cara, per questa ricetta deliziosa e presentata con raffinatezza!!!! Bravissima un abbraccio e buon fine settimana

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownFebruary 27, 2011 at 3:54 AM

    Yummy! Have a sweet day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. MammazanFebruary 27, 2011 at 6:48 AM

    Il mio pensiero è andato spesso ai poveretti che sono stati travolti dal terremoto...e sono contenta che tu ne sia rimasta fuori..
    Prepari sempre delle marmellate molto particolari (qui dove abito...di rabarbaro nemmeno l'ombra) per non parlare dell'alchechengi, hai fatto la marmellata anche di quello!!
    Io lo trovo ( il secondo) solo qualche volta e lo uso come elemento decorativo delle torte..
    Farne la marmellata?? sarebbe troppo costosa!!
    Baci

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownFebruary 27, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    Loving this and praying for everyone there.

    ReplyDelete
  8. MilenaStFebruary 27, 2011 at 11:44 AM

    Non sarà facile per me trovare il rabarbaro .....

    ReplyDelete
  9. civetteFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    Cara Ale...grazie di essere passata e ...ok..per tutto...aspettiamo impazienti...kiss x 3...Civette!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal
9 comments
Read more

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As , and something that I love to make for Xmas. I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds. Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry. To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need: 200 g almonds 100 g icing sugar 5 apricot kernels. As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels. The apricot kernel
13 comments
Read more

Silver beet Paneer, a variation of Palak Paneer

The other day I showed you my curry made with borage , ‘invented’ because I have tons of it in the garden! The other green-leaf crop that does well in Auckland is silver beet. My old plants (from last year!) got so tall that I started collecting only the little leaves from the stalks, and they look like spinach. One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer (or Panir), spinach with panir cottage cheese, and this variation is made using my silver beet. I washed (many times!) the small silver beet leaves, and then I steamed them and drain them. In a heavy pot I heated 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) and sautéed for 30 seconds: 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp turmeric 1/3 tsp ground chili then I added 2 roughly chopped shallots and, after 3 minutes, a good pinch of salt and the cooked silver beet. I cooked everything on low for about 20 minutes (you may need to add just a little water if the silver beet is too dry) and then finely pureed the content
5 comments
Read more