Rhubarb is a long pink, red, or green colored stalk with an enormous leaf. It’s a vegetable but surprisingly is used as an ingredient for desserts. The stalk is very sour but rhubarb can be turned into a tender and flavorful treat through roasting. The roasted vegetable can be enjoyed with a bowl of porridge, and fatty meats. Rhubarb also serves as a great filling for crumbles and pies.
To roast rhubarb, preheat the oven to 440 degrees F, place the vegetable in the baking dish, and cook for about 20 minutes. Serve it with your choice of dipping.
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How to Roast Rhubarb to Enhance Its Flavor?
Roasting rhubarb so it’s tender yet firm requires just a few simple ingredients. They include the following:
Ingredients
- Fresh, firm, and brightly-colored rhubarb stalks.
- Sugar
- Aromatic vanilla
- Lemon zest
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cut rhubarb into pieces of equal length.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large baking dish, put the rhubarb pieces, taking care not to overcrowd the dish.
- Now, add vanilla, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
- Coat every piece adequately with this mixture.
- Now, transfer the dish into the oven.
- Let rhubarb cook for about 20 minutes.
- Do not go over this time. You can check before 20 minutes to determine the tenderness of the vegetable. It can get mushy too fast. So, be sure to not overcook it.
- After 15 to 20 minutes, take it out of the oven and allow it to cool.
- Top it with vanilla yogurt, whipped cream, or any dipping of your choice.
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Do You Peel Rhubarb Before Roasting?
Yes and no. While peeling the vegetable isn’t necessary, you can do so depending on your preferences and what you are using it for. Peeling rhubarb is recommended for when you make things like jam that require a smooth texture.
Moreover, peel is also not the most unpalatable part of the vegetable. So, getting rid of it can enhance your food’s taste.
Having said that, peeling rhubarb is not required when roasting it in the oven. Leaving the peels on allows the stalks to hold together.
What is the Best Sweetener for Rhubarb?
Rhubarb, by itself, contains very little natural sugars. So, although it is commonly used for desserts, the vegetable itself is great for anyone on a low-sugar or low-carb diet. Rhubarb in its original form is quite delicious, especially when paired with something sweet. However, you can sweeten it with various sugar alternatives. Some of them are given below.
- Sweet spices like ginger and sweet vanilla
- Honey
- Orange juice
- Maple syrup
- Brown sugar
- Date fruit
- Coconut nectar
How to Slow Roast Rhubarb?
You can also slow-roast rhubarb utilizing the juice of fresh seasonal fruits. This particular recipe is for slow-roasted rhubarb with orange juice. You can enjoy it on its own or serve it with ice cream, granola, or yogurt.
Ingredients
- Young or early-forced rhubarb (500 grams)
- Honey (3 tablespoons)
- Juice of 2 oranges
- Star anise (2 whole)
- 1.5 cm piece of fresh root ginger (peeled, halved, and thinly sliced)
- 1 vanilla pod (deseeded and split)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Cut Rhubarb across diagonally to produce 5 cm pieces.
- Transfer the pieces to a ceramic baking dish. Spread the pieces in a single layer on the dish.
- Drizzle honey and pour orange juice on top of the pieces.
- Add seeds of the vanilla pod, ginger, and star anise into the tray.
- Cover everything tightly with foil. Roast for about 30 minutes.
- Then, take out the dish from the oven.
- Keep it wrapped in the foil for around 10 minutes to cool.
How to Make Roasted Rhubarb Crumble?
Rhubarb crumble is the ultimate comfort food. Usually, the recipe needs you to stew rhubarb. However, since this post is about roasting rhubarb, we are going to do exactly that to make a delicious crumble.
Roasting the vegetable retains its color. It also enhances the flavor. We recommend using Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb for this recipe. This particular variety is only available from late December to March. If you don’t have access to it, use the usual summer Rhubarb. You can serve the final dish with sweet treats like ice cream or custard.
Gather the following ingredients:
- Caster sugar (100 grams)
- Clear honey (2 tablespoons)
- Juice and zest of an orange
- Small pieces of Yorkshire Forced R
- Rhubarb (400 grams)
You need the following ingredients for the crumble.
- Plain flour (30 grams)
- Porridge oats (50 grams)
- Brown sugar (50 grams)
- Ground cardamom (half teaspoon)
- Salted butter (60 grams)
- Chopped pistachios (35 grams)
Gather these ingredients for rhubarb crumble cream:
- Icing sugar (2 tablespoons)
- Double cream (150 ml)
- Ricotta (100 grams)
Now, follow these recipe instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.
- In a bowl, create a mix of orange zest and juice, honey, and caster sugar.
- Add rhubarb to this mix and combine all the ingredients thoroughly.
- Now, transfer it into a roasting tin. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. Rhubarb should turn tender yet retain some of its firmness.
- While the vegetable is roasting, create the crumble. Combine oats, flour, cardamom, and brown sugar in a bowl.
- Coat the dry ingredients with butter. Then, add the pistachios. This will create the crumble mixture.
- Transfer the ingredients to a lined baking tray. Bake for about 12 minutes. The mixture should turn golden and spread out.
- Take it out of the oven. Let it cool at room temperature.
- Once it is cooled enough, break the crumble into small pieces.
- Whip up the cream by combining ricotta, double cream, and icing sugar into a bowl. Whisk the concoction till it becomes soft.
- Divide roasted rhubarb into bowls. Top up the bowls with soft cream.
- Finally, scatter the crumble and the leftover orange zest on top and serve.
Wrapping Up
Roasting rhubarb takes hardly over 15 minutes. You can roast it in bulk and store it in the freezer to be used later. Alternatively, top it up with fresh cream or serve it with your main meal. Don’t go over the roasting time as you don’t want to end up with mushy rhubarb. Add a sweetener of your choice or skip it if you enjoy the natural flavor of the vegetable. Bon appetite!
