Quebec Pear & Rhubarb Butter with Green Cardamom & Honey

Obviously I’m getting addicted to this home preserving business.

Case in point, this Pear-Rhubarb Butter. Flashback to last week. It's a chilly afternoon and I’ve got a million things to do. Both boys are napping and so after a few Tweets, I get cracking on the tasks at hand: folding laundry, answering emails, getting a leg of lamb in the oven—and cooking up some pears. Having sat way too long in the crisper, the pears are on the verge of going bad. The plan is to throw them in a pot and cook them down for a sauce for little Mateo.

Lo and behold, an hour and a half later, I’m sterilizing jars because I’ve got a totally divine pear & rhubarb butter that has been sweetened with honey and perfumed with green cardamom and I’ve GOT to can it. I absolutely have to put away a few jars for the winter; the housework can wait.
So crossing my fingers in hopes that the boys don’t wake up, I hastily can up a half a dozen jars, scrape the pot clean with a spatula and eat it.


How did I get so sidetracked that day?
It started innocently enough as a small over-ripe pear puree project. Upon discovering that it was way, way too sweet, my wheels started turning and ideas for jam started sprouting entirely on their own. I spied some frozen chopped rhubarb in the freezer and tossed that in the pot. There was no looking back as I added a few dollops of honey and some freshly ground green cardamom seeds.
Soon the house was filled with the most intoxicating aroma as what I can easily classify as the best fruit butter of my life bubbled away on the stove.

It seems like the best jams just evolve. This butter is complex; there is layer after layer of flavor when it hits the palate, and the fact that it is it is both tart and sweet makes for a whole lot of happy in the mouth. I only got five jars and I'm keeping them all. I'm selfish enough that I didn't even consider bringing them to my recent jam & jelly swap with friends. Sorry people!

Speaking of swaps... this is my contribution to Under the High Chair's very own Virtual Jam Swap 2009!

Submissions for this blogging event are now closed. Look for the full round-up this week with over 25 submissions from participants from around the globe!


Now onto the recipe. If you're looking for a sugar-free, no commercial pectin spread, this is the fruit butter for you!

Quebec Pear & Rhubarb Butter with Honey & Green Cardamom

Note: If this is your first time canning, you may want to read my post An Introduction to Making Jam on Simple Mom.
Makes 6- 250ml jars

1 full 6-quart pot of pears, washed, quartered, stems removed
½ cup apple juice or water

Cook pears and juice in a covered pot over medium heat until they are mushy, stirring occasionally. Pass through food mill or medium-fine sieve. Return puree to pot (should be about about 6 cups)

Add
6 cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen.
½ tsp salt
1 teaspoon fresh green cardamom seeds, ground
½ cup honey

Cook on low for about 2hours, stirring often. Butter will thicken and coat the back of a spoon. Taste for desired sweetness and either can now, or continue to cook to desired consistency.

Meanwhile, prepare to can the butter.

Canning:
Bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Sterilize 6 250ml jars and screw lids by placing them in the dishwasher and running a cycle or boiling them in the pot of hot water for ten minutes. Keep the metal lids in hot water until ready to use.

Ladle the pear butter into hot jars, place a metal lid on the jar and screw the ring on tightly. Repeat with remaining jars.

Processing:
When all the jars have been filled, lower them one by one into the pot of hot water. Water should cover the jars. Bring water to a boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Working carefully, using a jar lifter, remove jars from water and place on a clean dry towel. Allow to sit undisturbed for 24 hours.

Store in a cool place for 6-12 months, but I doubt it will last that long!

Irresponsibly Yours with Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Most days I eat responsibly. I set a good example for the babies such as avoiding snacks before a meal, finish all my dinner before dessert, and generally conducting myself in a grown-up manner.

Then there are days where I pull an upside-down rhubarb cake out of the oven, attempt to photograph it while it is still warm, sneak a few bites here and there, and finally wind up eating it entirely-- and just before dinner, too. Strangely, I'm not hungry for spaghetti and meatballs after that. At all.

Fortunately the boys are still young enough that I can get away with such shenanigans, but in a few years, I'm going to have some explaining to do if I attempt to eat only cake for supper.
Maybe we'll skip the meatballs and everyone can have cake. I think I like that idea.

I'd like to see anyone try to resist this dessert.


I probably haven't made this cake in ten years, but a recent discovery of the recipe in an old handwritten cookbook of my mothers brought back some good memories and I knew I had to make it again.

Fortunately I did because it was even better than I remembered. I love, love, the combination of the tart, compote-like rhubarb top with the ever-so-light butter cake base. It's a perfect spring dessert, uncomplicated, and easy enough for everyday enjoyment.

Just you try and save it for dessert.



Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Makes a 9-inch round cake. Serves 6-8. I also divided the batter and made two smaller 6 inch cakes. This is nice if you want to give one away.

Be sure to read through the recipe and have all the ingredients assembled before you start.

For the Rhubarb bottom:

3 1/2 cups rhubarb, washed, dried and chopped in 1/2 inch slices
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons orange rind
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a round 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and butter pan thoroughly. Mix together first four ingredients and pour into pan. Dot with butter and place in a preheated oven. Cook only as long as it takes you to put the cake batter below together.


For the Cake:

In the bowl of a mixer combine

1 cup cake flour, sifted
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

With the paddle attachment, beat ingredients for two minutes, scraping down sides as necessary.
Then add:
1 egg

Beat for another minute.
Pour batter over rhubarb and return everything to oven.
Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Place a plate or cake platter on top of the pan and re-invert cake onto the platter. Remove tin and peel off parchment. Allow to cool.
Serve with whipped cream.

Rhubarb Rosemary Daiquiri

Here's hoping your rhubarb plants are not flowering yet because I've still got a few recipes coming your way this spring that feature this juicy fruit. Rhubarb is one of my favorite fruits and one of the few I can actually grow myself. Bonus!

Sadly my plants haven't produced much this year, however just when I was thinking I was going to have to raid the market and buy my rhubarb, along came an offer from a friend that I couldn't refuse. A few days later I found myself looking into the trunk of her car at some of the largest stalks of rhubarb I had ever seen: as long as my arm and as thick as two fingers. Score!


I've had my eye on this recipe in Bon Appetit since last month and it did not disappoint. Even the rhubarb syrup itself was lovely over crushed ice without the rum, so if alcoholic drinks are not your thing, you can still blend up that rhubarb and enjoy it as a refreshing summer cooler. Try mixing it with iced tea or fresh lemonade for a twist on those classics.


Being the Margarita fan that I am, I also tried this with tequila and it was even better than the rum. Add a squeeze of lime and you're set for a new poolside drink this summer.
Oh, and Jamie Oliver has a recipe for a rhubarb Bellini that I'm dying to try. Rhubarb, the bartender's new BFF. Who knew?

Double R Daiquiri
(from Bon Appetit magazine)
Serves 8

2-1/4 cups water, divided
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves
3 cups 1/4-inch cubes fresh rhubarb
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1-1/2 cups white rum
Ice cubes
8 fresh rosemary sprigs
8 lemon peel twists

Bring 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Remove from heat; add 1/2 cup rosemary leaves. Let steep 5 minutes. Strain, pressing on rosemary; discard rosemary. Let syrup cool 1 hour.

Place rhubarb, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1-1/4 cups water, and 1/2 cup sugar in blender. Process until coarse puree forms. Strain through fine-mesh sieve into medium bowl. Using hands, squeeze rhubarb pulp to release as much liquid as possible through sieve; discard pulp.

Cover and chill rosemary syrup and rhubarb juice separately at least 4 hours and up to 2 days. Mix rosemary syrup, rhubarb juice, remaining 5 tablespoons lemon juice, and rum in pitcher. Fill 8 highball glasses with ice. Add rhubarb-Daiquiri mixture. Garnish with rosemary sprigs and lemon twists.

WFD? Warm Lobster Salad with Rhubarb, Fiddleheads, and Bacon

What's for dinner? Warm salad of Lobster, Bacon, Green Grapes and Tarragon, served over gently-poached Rhubarb and Fiddleheads.

Back in the day when I worked in a professional kitchen, I cooked lobsters by the tub-full around this time of year. It was nothing to add "cook and clean 20 lobster" to my already lengthy prep list every day and I had to be quick about it too. I may have winced the first few times, but eventually the task of grasping a live, writhing crustacean with my two hands and wringing him in two became as old hat as peeling potatoes.

Danny brought home a few lobster the other day, as they are at their most affordable right now, and it was fun to introduce Noah to them and show him the whole process. He was quite excited and couldn't wait to eat them.

If you've only ever dropped a whole lobster into boiling water to cook it, allow me to show you another way that, I believe, produces better results.
The tail of the lobster is more delicate than say, the claws, and doesn't need as long as a cooking time, so you start by separating the lobster into pieces. Here is a short video demonstrating how to do it (with Noah chirping away about how he wants to eat it).

Cooking your Lobster:

Once you have your lobster divided up into four parts (tail, head, claws and legs from claws), prepare a poaching liquid, or in French, a court bouillon.

1 large pot of cold water
1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 4
1 onion, same as above
1 generous handful of parsley
5-6 whole peppercorns
1 leek, washed and roughly chopped

Bring everything to a boil and let simmer a few minutes. Skim out solids and discard; bring your fragrant liquid to a boil again and salt generously, as you would for pasta.

Now you are ready to poach your lobster! Boil the claws for 7 minutes, the legs 6 and the tail 3 minutes. Cool everything and remove from shells.

This recipe just kind of evolved, but the result was amazing. I knew I wanted to use bacon and some fresh tarragon from my garden, but that left me with an incredibly rich and poorly balanced dish! I decided to add some sweet green grapes and do a compote of rhubarb for some tartness. Fresh lemon supremes added a perfect element of citrus. I wondered if I had too many elements, but in this case more was indeed merrier!
I also did a lobster butter using the carcass of the lobster (instructions below) and this is what I tossed the salad with. It was fantastic.

Warm Salad of Lobster, Bacon, Green grapes, and Tarragon with Poached Rhubarb and Lobster Butter
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Meat from one poached lobster
1/4 cup green grapes, sliced in half
1 lemon
8 slices thick slab bacon
2 Tablespoons fresh tarragon
1/2 cup lobster butter (recipe to follow)
poached rhubarb (recipe below)
fiddleheads, pre-blanched

For the poached rhubarb:

2 cups apple juice
5 or 6 thin stalks of rhubarb, washed

Slice rhubarb diagonally in to 1 inch lengths. In a medium pot, bring apple juice to a boil. Add rhubarb and turn off the burner. Allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes and occasionally check the rhubarb for doneness with a knife. Remove when tender. Time will vary depending on thickness of rhubarb. Keep at room temperature.

For the lobster butter:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, washed and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
4-5 whole black peppercorns
2 lobster carcasses, crushed slightly
1 pound butter, cubed

In a heavy-bottomed pot, sweat leek, onion and carrot in olive oil. With the heat on medium-high, add lobster carcasses and color them. Keep stirring the mixture, scraping the sticky parts off the bottom and being careful not to burn anything. When the carcasses take on a nice red color, reduce the heat to low and add the butter. As the butter melts, stir the mixture a few times.
Allow to cook very gently for a half an hour or so. Turn off heat and allow to cool. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, heat over a low flame until the butter re-melts, strain through a fine sieve and discard the lobster carcases and vegetables. You should have a beautiful, golden and fragrant lobster butter.


For the warm salad:

Slice whole lobster tail in half lengthwise (pictured above on the left). Roughly chop claws and leg meat. Cube slab bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Fry until golden, dry on a paper towel and reserve. Cut lemon into supremes and roughly chop those supremes. Chop tarragon into 1/2 inch lengths.
In a saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons of lobster butter. Add the two tail pieces, cut side down and heat gently, basting with butter. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan a keep warm. Melt 1/4 cup of the lobster butter in the same pan. Add lemon supremes and swirl in the hot butter until they disintegrates into little pieces. Add chunked lobster, bacon, green grapes and tarragon to the pan and coat in the lemon-butter mixture. Heat gently while you add salt to taste.
Caution: do NOT cook over high heat OR more than a few minutes or your lobster will over cook and be rubbery and your grapes will turn to mush.
Turn off heat and reserve.

In another pan, saute fiddleheads in the remaining lobster butter.

To Dress:

Microwave the poached rhubarb to warm it slightly and place in the center of the plate. Place the 1/2 tails of lobster, cut side down, on top of the rhubarb. Top with half of the warm lobster and grape mixture and drizzle a little lobster butter around the plate. Add fiddleheads to plate any way you like and serve.