Rhubarb-banana tart | synchronicity

This time last year I was living in our house in Wisconsin, plundering our ever-willing rhubarb plant, and happily making muffins, crisps, sauces and tarts. That plant was like a whole welcoming committee to the new season of warmth after a long winter, and I miss its tasty, ruby stalks. So here it is, early June again, the season of rhubarb and TV reruns, and I'm about to dabble in blog reruns, re-posting a recipe from last year in honor of my lovely rhubarb plant, but also you'll see, because I must. I am compelled. Read on.

Now remember, the dish I'm posting appeared on the blog a whole year ago, and I'm sure many (most?) of the current readers of this blog weren't even reading back then. And everyone else has probably forgotten the post anyway. Seriously, even I had forgotten about it, delicious as it was, until this very strange event occurred. Dare I call it an incident of synchronicity?



My friend Claire was attending the Annual Burrito Dinner and silent auction fund raiser sponsored by Alliance for Animals, in Wisconsin. (I attended this same dinner with her last year but, alas, I'm living in Seattle at the moment, and was unable to attend this year.) She was doing some tabling with one of the event coordinators (I'll call her EC). EC was talking to Claire about rhubarb, and telling her about a recipe she had just made that she'd found through a Google search. Then, the organizer of the amazing vegetarian meetup group I used to attend, and which Claire still attends (I'll call him Dave) came over and said to Claire, "aren't you Andrea's friend?" At some point Dave started talking about this blog, and suddenly EC put it together that this was where she'd found the tart recipe! Now how weird is that? And how small is the Universe? I HAD to re-post it, if only so I could tell this story!



Rhubarb-banana tart (11" tart pan)

Filling ingredients

• 4-5 heaping cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1" pieces
• 2 level tablespoons coconut flour (this is for thickening the rhubarb juices. Coconut flour is very absorbent so measure carefully. You don't want to soak up ALL the juice.)
• 1/2 cup Sucanot (more if you like it sweeter or if your rhubarb is extremely sour) or other sweetener (I almost used maple syrup, until I remembered how expensive it was.) I like my rhubarb tart to actually be a little tart. Maybe I should call it a tart tart.
  
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened, dried coconut (optional but I think you should use it)

Pressed pastry ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnuts, raw or toasted
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons sucanot
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 4-6 tablespoons cold water

Directions

1. Pulse the oats and walnuts in a food processor until they look like cornmeal.
   
2. Add the flour, salt and sugar, and pulse a couple of times to combine.
   
3. Add the oil and pulse to incorporate. (I'm talking quick buzz buzz.)
4. Add 4 tablespoons of water and pulse a few times. Continue adding water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is still crumbly but sticks together when you press it with a finger.
5. Lightly spray the pan with oil and, with floured hands, start pressing the crust into the bottom of the pan. You want a thin but not too thin, even crust. When the pan bottom is covered, nudge the remaining mixture onto the sides with the backs of your fingers. At this point I start to worry that there won't be enough, but there always is! When the crust is complete, place the pan into the fridge (or freezer, if you have room).
   
6. Toss the rhubarb with the coconut flour, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.
   
7. Mash the bananas. If you mush them up a bit with your fingers while still in the skin, they will mash right up when the skin is removed. Mix the bananas and raisins into the rhubarb, taking care to incorporate completely. Arrange the filling in the crust.
   
8. Bake in a preheated 450˚F oven for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350˚F and remove the pan from the oven so you can sprinkle the top with coconut. Return the pan to the oven and bake 20 minutes or until rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape.
9. Cool. Eat. I like my tart chilled.

The tart before it was baked.

Find the original post here. (It's much more interesting than this one.) And then head on over to Ricki's blog for the June S.O.S challenge; it's rhubarb, of course.

Walnut date confections | black onion seeds

Several days ago I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Chow Vegan, and was taken with the almond-date bars described there. These confections appear with regular frequency on blogs, and it wasn't the recipe per se that sent me running to the kitchen — it was the photo. I wanted to eat it. Of course, that was impractical, so I was forced to actually make the treats. Chow Vegan's (inspired by a recipe on dreaminitvegan) alluring version was made with chopped almonds, dates, coconut and vanilla, shaped into almond-topped bars, and drizzled seductively with melted chocolate. They were quite fetching.



I often used to make stuff like this back in the olden days when I was first learning about whole foods and vegetarianism. I remember having a favorite recipe called bliss balls, which if I'm not mistaken, probably contained non-instant dry milk, the nutritional darling of the moment. I was under the impression that adding milk powder to just about anything boosted its nutritional value. My opinion about milk has changed since then, but combining ground nuts, dried fruit and coconut into chewy sweetmeats is just as delicious as ever, and I love seeing the latest versions on blogs.

I followed Chow Vegan's recipe, except I used walnuts instead of almonds because the only almonds I could find in the pantry were salted, and that was unappealing. I had some raw walnuts (1/2 cup) that I combined in the food processor with soft pitted dates (1/2 cup), unsweetened shredded coconut (1/4 cup) and vanilla (1 teaspoon). Since I wanted to offer these treats to my 2-year-old granddaughter, and her mom prefers that she not eat chocolate, I rolled my treats in coconut. They looked and tasted yummy — to me. Miss E would have none of it. She acted as if I were offering her slimy toads to eat, and refused to try even a morsel. Ah well.

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Kalonji - black onion seeds - nigella sativa



I was the lucky recipient of a bag of black onion seeds sent to me by River, The Crafty Kook, after I read her blog post about Indian food. They are tiny black seeds about the size of sesame seeds that grow on an annual flowering plant (nigella sativa) native to southwest Asia, and are used as a spice. The seeds are used as part of the spice mixture panch puran, and by themselves in many Bengali recipes, especially in Naan Bread. According to Wikipedia, "Nigella sativa has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries, both as a herb and pressed into oil, in Asia, Middle East, and Africa. It has been traditionally used for a variety of conditions and treatments related to respiratory health, stomach and intestinal health, kidney and liver function, circulatory and immune system support, as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antioxidants, anticancer, antiviral and for general well-being."

I didn't attempt to cure anyone of anything but hunger when I took some no-knead bread dough from the refrigerator, rolled it into a flatbread, dusted it with seeds, and baked it on a cast iron griddle on the stove. Delicious and very pretty!

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I recently received the following email:

Hi Andrea,
I just published an article on my site, “100 Blogs Leading the Food Revolution.” First, I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in the article and if you have any questions about that article, how your site is described, etc. I wanted to let you know that you should feel free to email me. In addition, I thought I would bring it to your attention in case you think your readers might find it interesting and consequently would consider giving the article a mention on your site.
In any case, thanks for your time!

Best,
Jeanne Peterson

Take a look at the article — you may discover a new blog or two to follow. I'm honored to be included.