Roscommon Rhubarb Pie

rhubarb

Mother’s Day and rhubarb are always connected in my mind. Now is rhubarb season, for one thing, and unlike many spring/summer fruits, the rosy stalks are not readily available year-round. My mother loves rhubarb and even grows it in her Maine garden. An expert pie baker, she also makes rhubarb crisp and stews rhubarb with sugar to serve over ice cream, or with yogurt for breakfast.

Mothers often spark the flame that simmers the pot of family food traditions, and their influence can spill over beyond their own stoves. While the ranks of female chefs are comparatively small, there would be a large hole in culinary history without Alice Waters, Irma Rombauer (mothers), Julia Child and Fannie Farmer (who were not mothers).

Those four appeared near the top of Gourmet Live’s list of “50 Women Game-Changers” last year. A little further down the list was Darina Allen, whose name may be less familiar but whose contribution to the food landscape of her native Ireland is profound. Born into a farming family and raised knowing how to churn butter and bake bread in a bastible (an iron pot on three legs used to cook over an open fire), she took a job at the now-famous Ballymaloe House hotel and restaurant in County Cork at a time when Irish cooking traditions were in danger of becoming lost in favor of packaged foods. Like Alice Waters in Berkeley, Calif., Myrtle Allen at Ballymaloe was focused on seasonal, local ingredients, and the young Darina O’Connell found a permanent home, eventually marrying Myrtle’s eldest son, Tim, and launching the world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Since then, Darina Allen has made it her life’s work to preserve the regional cooking of Ireland; her important book, “Irish Traditional Cooking,” was first published in 1995 and just released in a revised edition. It is both a history and recipe book, including the story of the infamous potato famine, the origin of black pudding, and ancient dishes as well as more modern ones.

There are six recipes for rhubarb, which Irish cooks look forward to as the first fresh fruit to appear in the spring. I am happy to add something new — and old — to my mother’s rhubarb repertoire.

'Irish Traditional Cooking' by Darina Allen (Kyle Books) $35

ROSCOMMON RHUBARB PIE
From “Irish Traditional Cooking”: This is a perfect example of the way in which recipes originally cooked on an open fire can be adapted to produce the most delicious results today. Anna Dodd of Castlebaldwin in County Sligo … remembers how her grandmother would strew the bastible (an iron pot) with chopped rhubarb, sweeten it with a sprinkling of sugar and cover it with an enriched bread dough. When the cake was baked, it was turned out so that it landed upside down, with the sweet juice soaking into the soft, golden crust. It was served warm, with soft brown sugar and lots of softly whipped cream.

2 pounds red rhubarb
1¼ cups granulated sugar
Scone dough:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1½ tablespoons superfine sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 egg
¾ cup whole milk
To serve:
Soft light brown sugar
Softly whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Trim any brown edges from the rhubarb, wipe with a damp cloth, and cut into pieces about 1 inch in length. Put into a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or heavy baking pan with at least 2-inch sides and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Sift the flour, superfine sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Whisk the egg with the milk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid all at once and mix just until it comes together into a soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll into a 9-inch round, about 1-inch thick. Place this round on top of the rhubarb and tuck the edges in neatly.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes more, until the top is crusty and golden and the rhubarb is soft and juicy.

Remove the pan from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Put a plate over the top of the pan and turn it upside down so that the pie comes out onto the plate, being careful of the hot juices. Most will be absorbed into the dough.
Serve warm, cut into wedges, sprinkled with a little brown sugar and topped with the whipped cream.

Serves: 8 to 10

Nutrition information per serving (based on 10, without brown sugar and whipped cream): 285 calories (19 percent from fat), 6 grams fat (3 grams saturated, 2 grams monounsaturated), 32 milligrams cholesterol, 5 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 43 milligrams sodium.

Email: [email protected] Blog: www.northjersey.com/secondhelpings Twitter: susanlsherrill

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