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Spelt Rhubarb Squares

When I came to Canada years ago, one of things that amazed me was the variety of sweets that this country offered. Coming from Tokyo, I was accustomed to rather fancy pastries that had a lot of French influence, and which were only consumed on somewhat special occasions. Since arriving in Canada, I have tried everything from brownies to Nanaimo bars, all kinds of squares to cookies, but to me they all tasted pretty much the same due to the dominant flavours of refined sugar and white flour. Within a year, I gained 20 pounds and decided that it was time to make some changes to my diet!

Since then, I have introduced whole grains into my kitchen and started baking with ingredients that are not only healthier but also endow character and depth of flavour to my baked goods. I appreciate the taste of whole grains in every bite, and therefore I love thoughtfully home baked goods. However, I still welcome occasional fancy French pastries, as I appreciate their intricate artistry.

Garden updates: picking baby lettuce, spinach, radishes and Asian greens (bok choy, tah tsai and mizuna, etc.) everyday to catch up with the speed of their growth. They will bolt in time, and then they won’t be as good in texture and taste. My head lettuces are plump in their centres, the peas are tall with flowering buds, my Japanese plums are the size of olives, the zucchini plants are being eaten by wood bugs, and the slugs have been super annoying on my cole crops (cabbage family). I remove a bunch of the slugs daily when they come out to munch my greens in the dusk. I toss the slugs in the compost bin since they make good compost. The garden is quiet and serene this time of day so visiting it is a type of meditation. Eggplant, basil, and tomato plants are patiently waiting for the heat of summer. Alliums are in their full stage and peonies are giving off a sweet scent, perfuming the whole garden.

As you can imagine, in the corner of my garden, rhubarb plants with their huge leaves are creeping up upon the surrounding vegetables. So my job is to keep whipping up rhubarb desserts in the kitchen or sharing the stalks with my friends as they make such a great seasonal gift. Of course, my favourite task of all is to eat the completed rhubarb dishes! As for rhubarb desserts, I like serving them with a pot of chamomile tea. Rhubarb and chamomile grow at the same time in the garden so it seems just right to serve them together.

Spelt Rhubarb Squares

8 inch square cake pan

Dough

¾ cup spelt flour

¼ cup ground almonds

2 tablespoons cane sugar (I use granule organic cane sugar so for this dough, I put the sugar in a food processor to create a powdery consistency)

Lemon zest from 1 large lemon

100g salted butter, cold, cut into pea size pieces

Rhubarb mixture

1 ½ cups rhubarb, chopped into ½ inch pieces

1/3 cup cane sugar

½ teaspoon cornstarch

Lemon custard mixture

2 eggs

1/3 cup cane sugar

80 ml lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

A handful of sliced almonds, slightly toasted

Confectioner’s sugar

Butter an 8 inch cake pan, toss a little bit of flour to coat evenly and remove the excess. Or place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom and the sides.

Make the dough. Add the spelt flour, ground almonds, cane sugar and butter to a large baking dish or bowl. Grate the lemon over top. Using a kitchen scraper (I use a stainless steel scraper/chopper), cut the butter in order to combine the mixture until it reaches a fine texture.

Spread the mixture evenly in the cake pan and press firmly with fingers to make the bottom of the squares. The dough should look levelled across the pan. Rest it in the refrigerator or freezer for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (320F with a convection oven).

In the meantime, make the rhubarb mixture. Place the rhubarb and sugar in a small pan over medium heat and cook until stewed. Add the cornstarch, mix well and set aside.

Take out the cake pan from the refrigerator or freezer and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or till light golden.

Make a custard mixture. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, flour and baking powder. Whisk till sugar is dissolved and obtains a creamy consistency.

Take the cake pan out of the oven, spoon the rhubarb mixture on the dough randomly in a big dollop, and flatten using the back of a spoon. Fill in the empty space with the custard mixture. Don’t worry if you end up with more mixture than the empty spaces. Just pour evenly over the rhubarb mixture. Using the tip of a knife, swirl the custard mixture into the rhubarb mixture to incorporate it, creating a marble effect.

Bake for another 25 minutes. Let cool. Cut in preferred sizes, place the almond slices on top and sprinkle the sugar over it all. Serve with chamomile tea.

Chamomile Tea

Pick a handful of chamomile flowers and leaves (I use stalks too). Wash well to remove any insects. Discard any diseased flowers. Boil the water and pour it over the chamomile in a teapot or jar. Steep for a few minutes. Strain into cups.

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Pecan & Oat Crumble

I learned how to make ice cream from a science show when I was in elementary school. The recipe was dead simple; mix eggs, milk, sugar and cream in a metal bowl, then stick in a pile of snow. I remember there used to be a foot high of snow outside during some Tokyo winters. My twin sister and I would snowball fight until it was dark. It is unlikely to see snow in recent years. As a matter of fact, my father said he didn’t need a winter jacket a couple winters ago… the climate is definitely changing.

Being a child, I followed the instructions of the science show religiously and experimented with making the ice cream. I even came up with a healthier alternative! I stuck mandarin oranges in a pile of snow. Of course, I don’t think I was aware of health. It was just fun to see what kind of dessert I could make by just sticking something in a pile of snow. One winter, when my family traveled to Niigata where about 9 feet of snow falls every year, I was excited! Not for skiing, but for mandarin oranges and huge piles of snow! Today my toy is not the snow pile any more. It is an ice cream maker!

In my youth, eating ice cream was reserved for a special night out once in a while but even then, I wanted to have control over ingredients and quality. After all, I always come back to my garden… Now that I have a Donvier ice cream maker (by the way, it is really like a toy due to its simple structure, which I love for the ease of maintenance!), I make my plants turn into various forms of ice cream. Thanks again to my dear friend chef Eric for his expertise and for his insistence that I purchase this particular machine rather than a fancier ice cream maker. Now I know why!

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Pecan & Oat Crumble

Makes about 1 quart

For ice cream

2 free range eggs

1 cup organic whole milk

½ cup natural cane sugar

1 cup organic whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I make my own with brandy and it works beautifully)

2 ½ cups rhubarb or more to your taste, chopped into ½ inch thick pieces

½ cup + 2 tablespoons natural cane sugar

For topping

½ cup pecans, lightly roasted

3 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup rolled oats

1 cup spelt flour

3 tablespoons natural cane sugar

A pinch of salt

Beat the eggs, milk and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Stir consistently for about 10 minutes until the liquid thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Using a strainer, pour the egg mixture into a large bowl and let cool. When the egg mixture is cool, add the cream and vanilla extract then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or over night.

Combine the rhubarb and sugar in a small pot and cook over medium heat until the rhubarb is tender. Let cool. Keep in the refrigerator for about 4 hours or over night.

Meanwhile, make the crumble. Roast the pecans lightly in a 350F oven. It only takes a couple of minutes, so keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn. Break into pieces when cool.

Combine the pecans, butter, oats, spelt flour, sugar and salt in a baking dish. Squeeze into big pieces with hands. Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Let cool. Crush into small pieces. Set aside.

Place half of the rhubarb mixture in the freezer to partially freeze so that when mixed into the ice cream mixture, rhubarb mixture keeps its shape (I like keeping rhubarb mixture in chunks. If you don’t mind making pink ice cream, churn everything together).

Churn the ice cream mixture according to manufacturer’s instructions. On half way, add the other half of rhubarb mixture from the refrigerator. When the ice cream is just about done, stir in the rhubarb mixture from the freezer. Churn very lightly to keep rhubarb’s colour and texture.

Transfer the ice cream to a separate container; cover and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, depending on your preferred hardness.

Serve with the crumble.

Rhubarb Tart

When I can harvest just the right amount of stalks from my rhubarb plants for baking, when a peach tree on the south wall of our house starts blooming and the blossoms of our ‘Beauty’ plum tree start giving off their sweet scent, that is when I know that warm weather has truly arrived in my garden.

I long for those vibrant red stalks all winter, dreaming of the many desserts I will make with them in the upcoming months. Crisps, cobblers, pies, stews, tarts, jam…the rest is up to your imagination. However, rhubarb is also an urban gardener’s dilemma.

Rhubarb plants grow slowly in the beginning of the season, which can really test your patience, at least mine! I just have to quietly watch them grow until they are tall enough to be harvested. But two years ago, I wasn’t patient enough to wait for harvesting so instead of waiting, I planted five plants! Once the real heat came, there was no way to catch up with the speed of the rhubarb plant’s growth; I was left feeling overwhelmed and even guilty about not being able to utilize all of mother nature’s seasonal treat. In addition, the huge leaves of the rhubarb plants overly shaded the other vegetables in the garden! No wonder we weren’t excited to have a rhubarb dessert by midsummer, since the shelves in our pantry were filled with bottles of rhubarb jam and our freezer was packed with bags of frozen rhubarb slices even after the new growth emerged the following season! Unless you have a strip of unused land, I would suggest planting just one! This experience taught me that being patient is a part of gardening’s delight.

Rhubarb Tart

For the dough, I halved the below recipe, taken from my favourite book, Desserts by Pierre Hermé, and used two 13 1/2” x 4” rectangular tart pans. The vanilla pastry cream recipe quantity is just the perfect amount to fill these two tarts pans.

Sweet Tart Dough

Makes enough for three 10 ¼-inch or four 8 3/4 –inch tarts

2 ½ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

½ cup (lightly packed) ground blanched almonds

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla bean pulp or ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

To make the dough in a mixer

Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat on low speed until creamy. Add the sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla, and eggs and, still working on low speed, beat to blend the ingredients, scraping down the paddle and the sides of the bowl as needed. The dough may look curdled- that’s okay. With the machine still on low, add the flour in three or four additions and mix only until the mixture just comes together to form a soft, moist dough-a matter of seconds. Don’t overdo it.

To make the dough in a large-capacity food processor

Place the butter in the working bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy. Add the confectioner’s sugar and process to blend well. Add the almonds, salt, and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs and process to blend. Add the flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together. When the dough forms moist curds, clumps and then starts to gather into a ball, stop- don’t overwork it. The dough will be very soft, pliable, and Play-Do-ish, more like your favourite butter-cookie dough than traditional pie dough-that’s just the way it should be.

To shape and chill

Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into three or four pieces: three pieces for 10 1/4-inch tars, four for 8 3/4 inch tarts. Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or for up to 2 days before rolling and baking (at this stage, the dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month).

To roll

For each tart, place a buttered tart ring on a parchment-lined baking sheet and keep close at hand. If you are using a tart pan, butter the pan and dust with some flour, then remove excess flour. Work with one piece of dough at a time; keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator.

Working on a lightly floured surface (marble is ideal), roll the dough between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick, lifting the dough often and making certain that the work surface and the dough are amply floured at all times (I found it easier to roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, for the richness of the dough can make it difficult to roll). Just make sure that parchment paper doesn’t get rolled into the dough. Roll the dough up and around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring (or the tart pan). Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring, then run your rolling pin across the top of the ring to cut off the excess. If the dough cracks or splits as you work, patch the cracks with scraps (moisten the edges to “glue” them into place) and just make certain not to stretch the dough that’s in the pan (what you stretch now will shrink later). Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork, and chill it for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator or freezer. Repeat with the remaining dough if necessary.

To bake a tart shell

Preheat the oven to 350F. Fit a circle of parchment paper or foil into each crust (cut the paper or foil large enough to extend above the top of the tart) and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, then remove the parchment and beans and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes, or until golden. Transfer the crust(s) to a rack to cool.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

(Another recipe from Pierre Hermé)

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups whole milk

1 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped

6 large egg yolks

½ cup (slightly rounded) sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted

3 ½ tablespoons (1 ¾ ounces) unsalted butter, softened

In a small saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla bean (pulp and pod) to a boil over medium heat (or do this in the microwave oven). Cover the pan, remove from the heat, and allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes, time enough for the liquids to be infused with the warm flavour of vanilla.

Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and set aside a small bowl that can hold the finished cream and be placed in this ice bath. Set aside a fine-meshed strainer too.

Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a quarter of the hot milk into the yolks. Still whisking, add the rest of the liquid to the tempered yolks in a steady stream. Remove and discard the pod (or save it for another use).

Place the saucepan over high heat and, whisking vigorously and without stopping, bring the mixture to a boil. While boiling, whisk energetically for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and press the cream through the sieve into the reserved small bowl. Set the bowl in the ice bath (you can add some cold water to the cubes now) and, stirring frequently so that the mixture remains smooth, cool the cream to 140F, as measured on an instant-read thermometer. Stir in the butter in three or four additions. Keep the cream over ice, stirring occasionally, until it is completely cool. The cream can be used now or refrigerated.

Rhubarb Topping

2 lbs of rhubarb stalks, cut into the width of a tart pan (if thick split in half)

½ cup cane sugar

¼ to 1/3 cup water

Preheat the oven to 320F. Place the rhubarb in a baking dish, sprinkle the rhubarb with the sugar and pour in the water. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender but still holds its shape. Transfer gently to another plate, reserving the liquid. Set aside to cool. In the meantime, place the reserved liquid in a small saucepan over medium heat and reduce it by half or until it becomes thick with a syrupy consistency. Cool to room temperature.

Assemble the Tart

Spoon the pastry cream into the crust and smooth the top. Place the rhubarb widthways along the tart on the pastry cream and drizzle the syrup over top. Serve immediately.