Trendy Springtime Eating, Part IV: Rhubarb, It's Not Just For Dessert Anymore

I can't stop myself from buying rhubarb when I encounter it at the farmers' market. The farmers just stand there, smiling, knowing I'm going to stuff bags with the stuff. But then I get home and everyone looks at me like, "what, rhubarb crisp … again!" and I feel like a lame, one-trick rhubarb pony that my daughter is ready to turn into glue for her next collage. Enter Rhubarb curry with french lentils, cabbage, potatoes and peas from Berley's oft-heckled, but nonetheless mostly excellent Flexitarian Table. Rhubarb looses its structure with very little cooking, and so it's basically a really distinctive, tangy thickener in this curry. I sort of expected to be let down by this recipe, but it was excellent. Berley's curry mixture needs some work. Start from whole seeds, toasting and grinding them together; maybe add mustard seeds to it.

Freedom Farm offered up the best beet greens ever this last market day, with the tiniest nub of beet root and perfectly tender small leaves. Sauteed with garlic and lemon juice there is nothing finer in the spring eating line up. The stalks turn into a kind of juicy red noodle. The carrots were also suggested by Flexitarian Table and were roasted with a glaze of earth balance, lime juice, pepper flakes and cumin seeds—very good.

Holy crap, this guy basically had my dinner in ice cream form:


["Rhubarb and Peanut Butter Curry Ice Cream" by bradluster on Flickr.]