Rhubarb syrup

A friendly neighbor gave me a bunch of rhubarb last night and the kids immediately asked for rhubarb sprite. Rhubarb sprite is the fizzy drink mixed with a rhubarb simple syrup. It's another rite of spring and summer around here. I don't know whether the kids really like the rhubarb flavor or just the opportunity to drink soda. Either way, I had a helping hand from daughter Maya in making this rhubarb syrup. It is nearly impossible to ruin. And the resulting cordial can be added to all different kinds of grown-up drinks as well. Mix equal parts with tequila and a splash of fresh lime for a rhubarb margarita, or drop a bit in champagne for a rhubarb bellini.

Rhubarb syrup

4 cups chopped rhubarb (about 8 stalks)
1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Combine ingredients in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain to separate pulp from liquid. Chill and enjoy!

Avgolemono

Last night I traded a hunk of salmon with a friend for some fresh eggs from her backyard chickens. This new acquisition called for an egg-central dish, but having just made a quiche I needed something different and preferably summery. Hence, Avgolemono.

Avgolemono is a Greek lemony egg soup with a chicken broth base and orzo pasta. As I am not from the Greek Islands, I headed to Epicurious to find a suitable recipe. There is considerable debate there over authenticity and the requisite amount of tanginess and frothiness. I settled on a recipe posted in the review section from someone by the moniker A Cook in Boston who seemed to have the most support from fellow Epicureans. I couldn't for the life of me find orzo on Kodiak so I picked up some long grain white rice from the bulk foods section of Cactus Flats.

Let me say, I loved this dish. The lemon hits you first, and it is quite tangy, but there's a palatable richness to the eggs that is lovely. The rice made it a meal. As a summer dish, it is excellent served cold.

Avgolemono

8 cups chicken broth
1 cup of long grain white rice
4 eggs, white and yolks separated
Juice of 3 lemons
freshly ground black pepper

Bring chicken broth to a boil, add the rice and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Whip the egg whites until the medium peaks stage (I used my kitchen-aid). Add the yolks and beat continuously. Add the lemon juice, beating. Withdraw 2 cups of broth and add to the eggs in a slow continuous stream, beating quickly to avoid curdling. Add egg mixture back to remaining broth, remove from heat and serve. Garnish with black pepper.

Note: soup will be rather frothy at first. It will settle and thicken as it rests off the heat.


Extra Garnish
A warning - if you are an avgolemono purist you will not like this next part. I had some leftover chopped spruce tips from an experiment making spruce tip salt for smoking fish (more on that later - if it works out). Sitka spruce tips are harvestable in late spring and most frequently made into jelly, tea or beer (our local radio station has a new music show called Spruce Tip Brew). I've also talked to folks who use it as a substitute for dill when curing fish (as in gravlax). I thought the citrus resin flavor of the spruce tips would be a nice touch. I added just a pinch, as you can see from the top photo, and was happy with the results.

June spruce tips in my backyard ready for pickin'.

Solstice Pie - Smoked Salmon quiche

Tonight the sun will set at 11:15 pm, but it will stay light out for another hour or so. It's blue skies and light wind, and all the neighborhood kids, mine included, are making a ruckus outside. It's a good night to do something substantial in the kitchen, something that requires time I might not have on a regular evening. Like making a pie crust and filling it with savories.

Last weekend I worked on cleaning out the freezer, which meant smoking six sides of red salmon. We've worked through the sudden surplus by eating it daily and giving some away, including a welcome gift to new neighbors, but I've been thinking about the quiche for a few days. Now, quiche isn't typically associated with warm summer nights, not like corn on the cob, or gazpacho, or grilled salmon. But the egg and cream goodness with salty fish sounds delicious and heartening. I've adapted my mother's version of quiche lorraine, swapping out the bacon for the smoked salmon, and the yellow onions for green, keeping the swiss cheese and adding dill.

Smoked Salmon Quiche

Single, unbaked crust for a 9" pie
6 - 8 oz. smoked salmon*, in pieces
2 spring onions, chopped
1/2 cup swiss cheese, shredded
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup cream

1 Tbl chopped fresh dill

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Prebake the pie crust at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. On cooled crust, layer cheese, onions and salmon. Slightly beat the eggs and add the milk, cream, dill and black pepper to them. Pour over the salmon, cheese and onion. Bake the quiche in the 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes more. Serve warm.

* A little uncertain how to quantify the salmon but I used most of the two pieces in the top photo. The thin parts at the far end are the belly meat and full of yummy fats so I just snacked on those bits. Also a little uncertain who the potential or future audience is for this blog so I better clarify: you must always only use wild Alaska salmon. No exceptions - ever.

Turned out fantastic!

Rhubarb Applesauce

And so it begins with rhubarb. I think rhubarb sauce was one of the first things I ever learned to cook since all you have to do is apply heat, add sugar and stir. This recipe is slightly different than my mother's fragrant cinnamon version. The apples and strawberries add natural sweetness to counteract the tartness of the rhubarb stalks. I add the juice and zest of an orange because a little extra liquid helps prevents burning and, well, I really like my zester. This recipe is very forgiving and can be adapted to suit personal tastes. As you can see, all measurements are approximate.


5-6 apples, peeled, cored and diced to 1/2"
I used Gala as they were on hand but any softer sweet variety would work
3-4 stalks of rhubarb, diced
6-8 strawberries, diced
Juice (2 Tbl) and zest (1 tsp) of orange, optional
1/4 cup of sugar

Add the apples, rhubarb & strawberries to a saucepan over medium heat. Squeeze juice over the top and add zest, if using. Heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to allow the apples to release their liquid. Add sugar. Continue to heat and stir until just before boiling, then reduce heat to low and cover with steam-venting lid. Simmer 30 minutes.


You can smooth the sauce with an immersion blender, or leave it chunky. Goes great over vanilla ice cream.

The Beginning

I've been considering a food blog for some time, because I love to cook and love to eat and enjoy the fellowship that comes with sharing recipes, techniques and ideas. As with any new endeavor, I've come up with many excuses to postpone it - I haven't enough time, my photography is lousy, my kitchen is too small, etc. But it feels like the time is right, so ... here we go.

Why the rhubarb chronicles? I have a certain affinity for rhubarb. It grows like a weed around coastal Alaska and my family had rhubarb patches in Haines and Kodiak. People who grow rhubarb tend to have a lot of it and they offer it up to neighbors, or to strangers passing by, or to friends on Facebook. And the characteristics of rhubarb seem to be in line with my cooking: earnest and unsophisticated, colorful, abundant and local.