Paris Outdoor Markets - What's in Season - Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb!!  It's here!  Enjoy its bounty while you can.  

 A pile of rhubarb at the market - grown outside of Paris

 The variety of rhubarb grown here has a rich pink color and these particular ones are nice & thin.  I find them to be less tart here compared to the ones back home and so I can get by using less sugar when I cook them.  Here's a recipe for a rhubarbe compote that I like very much.  If you let it cook too long, the vibrant color dulls out & the texture is a bit "mushier", but no worries, it still tastes great!

  

Recipe:  Compote de rhubarbe (Rhubarb compote)
Makes a large quantity;  can be halved.

1.5 kilos rhubarb
zest of 1 orange
Juice of 2 oranges
50g sugar (or more depending on the tartness of the rhubarb)
2 vanilla beans
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (optional)
1 kilo strawberries

• Clean rhubarb under cold water.  Cut off ends.  Remove any fibers (if tough).  Cut into 1 inch slices (roughly).
• Remove the zest of the orange (using a microplane works the fastest)
• Juice the oranges into a small bowl.
• Scrape seeds from vanilla beans or use extract;  add to orange juice.
• Add sugar to bowl with orange juice & stir to mix. Add the rhubarb pieces & stir well.  Pour into baking pan & cover with foil.
• Bake at 200C (400F) for 30 minutes (the juices will be released during this time); stir; remove foil & bake another 20 minutes or until fruit is soft & the juices have become reduced.  Let cool. 
• While rhubarb is baking, clean the strawberries & remove hull.  Slice into med-thin slices (vertically).

You can add the strawberries slices during the first 30 minutes to make a strawberry-rhubarb compote.  Or, you can simply add the raw strawberries to the cooled rhubarb compote.  Personally, I prefer adding strawberries without cooking them but only if the strawberries are nice & ripe & full of flavor.  It's not a true compote like this, but it sure tastes great with yogurt, over ice cream, with a crepe, with pancakes, over angelfood cake, in a "verrine"....I could go on & on...!  

Store in fridge.  Should be eaten within a few days since the sugar content is so low - it doesn't hold as long as a confiture or a true compote.

ENJOY!

At Marché Raspail this morning...a beautiful moment

:/dma