Last week one of my coworkers brought me a big sack of rhubarb from her garden. It came with a warning that there may be several nibbles on the stalks, as her 2-year-old helped her pick it all.
If you look closely, you might notice that a nibbled stalk made its way into the pictures, and thus into my stomach. Oh well.
Luckily, I am always willing to turn a blind eye to a few kid-sized samples if the trade-off is big, bright, beautiful fresh produce.
And rhubarb is such a rare treat. At least, it is for me. It seems like no one cooks with it anymore, and come spring I’m majorly craving it’s fresh, bright, tart flavor. Yes, I know it looks like pink celery but trust me, rhubarb isn’t as weird as it seems. Well, except for the part where it’s really a vegetable and it’s leaves are poisonous. So, okay, yeah, maybe it’s a little weird. But still. 
When roasted with maple syrup, fresh ginger, orange zest, and vanilla, rhubarb transforms from a vegetable-masquerading-as-a-fruit into something entirely luxurious. Elegant, even. 
After roasting, the rhubarb barely holds together anymore and is truly more fruit compote than fruit slices. It melds with the dark, rich maple syrup, spicy ginger, sweet orange, and aromatic vanilla to create a fruit-studded syrup that is just begging to be spooned on top of something creamy.
I would rate the sweetness level of this rhubarb as ‘breakfast sweet’, as opposed to ‘dessert sweet’. By that I mean, I made this rhubarb specifically to have for breakfast with yogurt and granola or on top of oatmeal, thus I kept the level of sweetness to a minimum. Some mornings I just added it to my yogurt and reveled in the tart, bright flavors, and other mornings I added an extra drizzle of maple syrup or honey to the bowl to sweeten it up.
This tangy-sweet roasted rhubarb would be equally delicious slathered onto scones or shortcakes, piled high on top of ice cream, or spooned over a cake for dessert, too. If you’re going the dessert route, I suggest using a teeeeny bit more maple syrup just to thrust this firmly into dessert territory; when I made this again to serve with cake and ice cream I preferred a little more sweetness. I’m including a range in the recipe below, so just use the amount that makes sense for how you’re serving it. Or, just stick with the lower amount and feel free to stir in a little extra maple syrup before serving it if you feel like it’s a touch too tart for your taste.
Whatever you do, you need to get to the farmer’s market before Spring is over and get your hands on some rhubarb. Maybe this weekend? You could serve maple roasted rhubarb with your pancakes this Sunday. Just sayin’.
Invite me over if you do!
Maple Roasted Rhubarb with Ginger & Orange
Ingredients
- 12 large rhubarb stalks about 8 cups, sliced
- 1/3-1/2 cup maple syrup*
- zest and juice from half a large orange
- 2- inches of fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract if you swapped this with bourbon I wouldn't be mad at you
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Pull out a large oven-proof baking dish like a casserole dish or a brownie pan: it should be big enough to hold at least 8 cups of rhubarb.
- 2. Slice rhubarb into 2-inch pieces and put in baking dish. Peel and finely dice the ginger, then add it to the rhubarb with all remaining ingredients.
- 3. Stir to combine, then bake for 45 minutes, or until rhubarb has softened and is starting to darken around the edges. Do not stir at all while cooking, or the rhubarb will fall apart. It will still taste good, but more like a rhubarb jam than spoonable chunks of fruit.
- 4. Serve warm over ice cream, cake, or pancakes, or cold over yogurt, oatmeal, or anywhere else a juicy, jammy spoonful of tart-sweet fruit is welcome.
Notes