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.

Rhubarb-banana tart

 

It's time for the annual "rhubarb ritual." This refers to the moment I realize there are still bags of rhubarb in the freezer that need to be used up. But then I think, "why would I want to use old, frozen rhubarb when there's new fresh rhubarb growing in the yard. Sigh. Another year's crop of carefully washed, cut and individually frozen on baking sheets before being packed into freezer bags for the winter rhubarb is destined for the compost. Why don't I use it? Why do I freeze it? Why do we eat rhubarb only once a year? (Twice if there are leftovers!) And what will this year's ritual rhubarb dish be?

Truthfully, I love rhubarb cobbler and I never get tired of it - how could I when I only make it once a year? But this year I wanted something a little different, so I decided to try combining the nicely tart rhubarb with very sweet bananas and raisins, just to see what would happen. I also wanted to use the very cool tart pan I was so excited to find at a garage sale a couple of years ago but have probably only used twice. It seemed appropriate to combine the once-a-year ingredient with the once-a-year pan.



Well, the rhubarb plant got a workout this year because I wasn't 100% satisfied with the first tart, and decided to try again. It's not that we didn't like it - we ate the whole thing - but it wasn't quite right. The crust was too hard and there wasn't enough banana. Looks like we'll be eating rhubarb more than once this year! I do want to warn you that I like things tart, and this tart is tart is tart is TART.




Rhubarb-banana tart (11" tart pan)

• 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 other sweetener (I almost used agave syrup or maple syrup)
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened, dried coconut (optional)

Pressed pastry

• 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

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 space).
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 unbaked pie going into the oven

Okay, so you're probably wondering if making this tart was a lot of time-consuming trouble. If you do it like I did, the answer would have to be "yes, about four days worth." First I went to get the tart pan but it wasn't in the drawer under the oven, where I've always kept it. In fact, it was nowhere to be found, and no one in the house had a clue what could have happened to it. (The usual.) I searched everywhere with no luck. I finally decided that I really do need this pan and walked to the local kitchen store (Orange Tree Imports on Monroe St.) and found the exact pan on sale for only $12.99. Cool. The problem was it came in two sizes (9" and 11") and being a Libra, it took me a ridiculous amount of time to decide which size to get. By the time I finally had a pan, it was late and I didn't want to make the tart anymore so it was put off until the next day.

The next day I started gathering my equipment and ingredients and discovered my 1/2 cup measuring cup was missing from the baking cupboard. Are there gremlins living in the house? What is going on? I did a thorough search of the pull-out trays in the cupboard, and in the process knocked over the dog's full water dish, which is on the floor near the cupboard. I could go on and on about how I couldn't sprinkle coconut over the tart because my husband used the coconut up making burned granola and didn't add it to the shopping list blah blah blah. But why bother; you get the picture. At one point my son bopped into the kitchen and remarked, "It seems to be taking you an awfully long time to make that." . . . And then I made it again two days later. It probably won't take you long at all.

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Dangerous chemicals in "natural" productsI prefer as many of the products I use to be as safe as possible as well as cruelty free. I've been using Mrs. Meyer's dish liquid and other household cleaning products because I was assuming they were natural and safe, but the dish liquid tested out to have an alarmingly high level of 1,4 dioxane, a known carcinogen. Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Liquid Dish Soap had the highest levels of the carcinogen at an alarming 204 ppm (parts per million), ten times higher than any other product’s current results in a recent study. Other products familiar to health-oriented shoppers were also found to have high levels of this dangerous chemical.

Two studies (the original, and a follow-up to determine improvements), "looked specifically at products that come in contact with the skin. The studies were commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a watchdog group with over 500,000 members, and were overseen by environmental health consumer advocate David Steinman (author of The Safe Shopper’s Bible). The independent third-party laboratory, Bodycote Testing Group, known for rigorous testing and chain-of-custody protocols, performed all testing. The products selected for the study are available at popular retail outlets."

About 1,4-Dioxane
"1,4-dioxane is a petrochemical "known to the State of California to cause cancer" under Proposition 65. Due to its toxicity, many consumers would not expect to find it in "natural" or "organic" branded personal care products. The contaminant 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of the ethoxylation process, which is a cheap shortcut companies often use to provide mildness to harsh cleaning ingredients. 1,4-dioxane is also a suspected kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant, and respiratory toxicant, according to the California EPA, and it is a significant groundwater contaminant. While previous studies have revealed the presence of 1,4-dioxane in baby, children's and adults products and those mislabeled as "organic" and "natural", this latest study shows the toxin is being significantly reduced as many brands reformulate."

You can find more information about the studies at the Organic Consumers Association Web site and also a link to a file listing specific products to choose or avoid as well as ingredients to avoid in products not on the list.

©Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Rhubarb cobbler (wheat free)

I was thinking about what I should cook for the blog and every time I came up with an idea for something I wanted to try, a nagging thought kept annoying me. My garden is full of this year's rhubarb and my freezer is full of last year's rhubarb. I should make at least one thing with this plant that I used to love, but am now indifferent to, so I went outside and gathered a bunch of red stalks. And besides, my son recently asked for a rhubarb recipe, so here comes a simple and homey cobbler. You might want to serve it with vegan ice cream to dress it up.

I was planning to roll a square of pastry and cut nine rectangles with my pastry cutter (for nifty zig-zag edges) and place them window-pane style across the top of the rhubarb. Or maybe cut out leaf shapes and arrange them artistically. Sigh. Of course I reached for my same old biscuit topping and slapped it on. Of course. So predictable.

Ironically, the recipe I always turn to for biscuit topping is from my junior high school foods and nutrition cookbook. I just can't believe I still have the cookbook, let alone use it. It was so long ago. I don't remember much about junior high home economics beyond the time in sewing class that I sewed through my finger at the sewing machine about five minutes after the teacher jokingly warned us not to do that. Or the inedible cake whose center sunk to the pan bottom. Oh wait, there was a pink place mat and two napkins that I embroidered with slices of blueberry pie (little knots for the blueberries!) and cups of steaming coffee. Other than that—a wasteland.

Anyway, I decided to use the basic recipe proportions while changing the actual ingredients. I've been relying on wheat so much lately that I though it would be more interesting to change the flour. I used to use make cookies, cakes and breads with barley, spelt and rice flours, and it occurred to me that I've become too narrow and should probably eat a greater variety of foods. However, if you prefer using wheat flour, the quantity is 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour instead of the barley and spelt. (Using spelt requires more flour than wheat.)

Rhubarb cobbler
• 4 heaping cups rhubarb, cut into 1" pieces
• 1/2 to 1 cup sucanot*
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon arrowroot

biscuit topping
• 1/2 cup barley flour
• 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sucanot
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Put the rhubarb in a large bowl and toss with the arrowroot until coated. Add the sucanot and cinnamon and mix. (*Different varieties of rhubarb vary in their sweetness, with some incredibly sour and some more mild. And different folks have different sweetness requirements. I like things a bit on the tart side so 1/2 cup of sucanot works for me. Maybe you need more to make your tongue smile.) As the rhubarb sits, the sugar will start to melt, so give it a mix every so often as you make the topping.

Sift into a bowl (or whisk or just mix well) the barley flour, spelt flour, baking soda, salt and sucanot. Add the oil and mix with a fork until it looks like crumbs. Add the vanilla to the milk then add the milk all at once to the dry ingredients. Mix lightly together until combined.

Oil a 9" x 9" square baking dish and fill with the rhubarb mixture, making sure to scrape out and add all of the sugar. Spread the biscuit mixture on the top. You can drop it from a spoon as individual biscuits or spread as one piece. Bake in a preheated 375˚ oven for 35 minutes. Cool.