Baked rhubarb with orange & vanilla

 

I'm a bit rhubarb obsessed. 

Yes, really. My husband really doesn't get it, and won't go near the stuff. I'm getting through a bunch a week on my own. I'll happily eat it with yogurt for breakfast, as a sweet fix after lunch and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the evening.

I love the flavour - so complex, and not too sweet. And so versatile.

Mostly I poach it until it becomes a bit pinky mess, but recently I've been admiring more delicate rhubarb based desserts on blogs and on Australian Masterchef. Michael made a beautiful rhubarb based dessert last night. The shards of rhubarb were pretty and even, keeping their shape, and made his overall plate look so pretty. (Apologies for no link - the Masterchef website hasn't posted it as yet)

So last night was time to trial baked rhubarb. It was so simple and so tasty.

Ingredients:

1 bunch rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into even lengths (removing any coarser skin)

2 tablespoons demarara sugar (or any other sugar)

1 orange - use all the rind and the juice also

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (includes the seeds)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius.

Place all the ingredients in a baking pan and make sure the juice is mixed through evenly.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Here I've served it with Yalna vanilla yogurt from breakfast. What a lovely way to start a Monday morning. It would also be a lovely side to a pannacotta or just serve with crème fraîche.