Rhubarb grows like a weed at our farm so I’m always looking for new ways to cook it and I give away what we can’t eat.
This recipe can be adapted to use other fruit and is perfect to serve with a cuppa or as a dessert. I used wholemeal flour in the pastry, because I had some which needed using. Anything that hangs around in our pantry for too long is an attractive target for pantry moths. They especially love flour, nuts and, as I discovered recently, dried chillies!
1 shortcrust pastry case
800g rhubarb, washed and cut into 3cm lengths
¾ cup raw sugar, or to taste
125g butter, at room temperature
125g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp almond essence
Finely grated rind 1 orange
1 cup almond meal
3 eggs
To serve:
Icing sugar
Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or Greek yoghurt
Go to the link for the pastry. Bake the pastry case as instructed, with foil and something heavy like dried beans or corn, to stop it rising. Remove foil and beans and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave the oven on 180°C.
Meanwhile, cook rhubarb in a saucepan with the raw sugar for 10 minutes, or until tender but mostly still whole. Stir often so it doesn’t stick or burn. Cool then spread into the pastry case.
If you used a food processor to make the pastry there’s no need to wash it out before you make the filling. Place butter, sugar, vanilla, orange rind, eggs and almond meal in food processor and process until smooth, stopping halfway to scrape down the sides. Spread evenly over the rhubarb. Bake for 40 mins or until well-risen, golden brown and firm to the touch.
Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or cold with ice cream, whipped cream or Greek yoghurt.
Serves 8
Variations: use ground walnuts or pine nuts instead of the almond meal. Use cooked apples or pears, tinned pears or peaches, or a punnet of berries mixed with a cup of jam instead of the cooked rhubarb. You could also use frozen berries.
Hello,
I have been following your blog for a few years now and have loved your posts – so interesting, and show your creativity and extensive expertise in cooking. I am definitely impressed.
I am not commenting on this post but one from a number of years ago, the Sweet & Salty Cheesecakes with Cherries & Crumble by Ottolenghi.
My son-lin-law is having a birthday dinner of Moroccan slow cooked lamb, and I am doing dessert. He requested cheesecake so remembered this post. The lamb is cooked in cherries, figs and pomegranate juice therefore do not want to do cherries with the cheesecake. You mentioned using macerated strawberries, which I like the sound of.
Could you give me a recipe for this? The dinner is for 42 people. Could I serve other berries with the macerated strawberries or would strawberries alone be best?
My daughter thought of possibly adding some spices to give it a “Moroccan” flair but I have no idea as to Moroccan dessert flavours.
Any help would be greatly appreciated….well so much more than greatly. You would be a life-saver.
Many thanks and kind regards,
Angela
Hi Angela
Thank you for your kind words about my blog. That deconstructed cheesecake of Ottolenghi’s is definitely a winner. For the strawberries, just slice them and sprinkle with a little sugar then leave them. They will produce a syrup. You could add a dash of balsamic vinegar which goes very well with strawberries, really bringing out the flavour. Use white balsamic if you can find it because the dark will affect the colour. Any fruit compote would go really. You could cook up some fresh blackcurrants with a little sugar, then cool and use. Or blitz some fresh apricots in the food processor, then heat the puree with a little sugar to taste, stirring to dissolve and you have a delicious thick apricot sauce you could use as the topping for the cheesecakes. We’re having friends for dinner on Thursday and I’m going to make a traditional ricotta cheesecake and serve each slice with a couple of spoonfuls of apricot sauce. I blitzed the apricots and froze the puree a couple of months ago. It’s a useful thing to have in the freezer for making a sauce. It also makes great quick icecream.
You could mix some pomegranate arils in with the strawberry slices, to give it a Moroccan flavour. Maybe add a touch of cinnamon, but I would try it first and see how you like it.
Warm regards
Linda