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.