Compote yourself

Rhubarb season is at hand. Iris and I got some at Stillnovich Corner Produce at Pike Place Market last week. Stillnovich’s is my favorite rhubarb in town; they grow it on their own farm and sell it cheap, which is good, because I’m going to need a lot.

After last year’s rhubarb crumble adventure, I swore I’d never need another rhubarb recipe. Iris and I brought that rhubarb home and made a crumble right away, and it’s still my all-time favorite dessert.

But there was leftover rhubarb, and Laurie reminded me about Dana Cree’s rhubarb compote. It’s simple to make and really does take 13 minutes, 17 seconds. If you cook it longer than that, it explodes.

On Sunday, we had our usual French toast, but instead of syrup we spread the slices with rhubarb compote. Awesome! Later that day, for snack, I had an Eggo waffle with rhubarb compote. It’s also great on ice cream or, even better, stirred into Greek yogurt. I’m sure there are many other things I should be doing with it, such as bathing in it.

Luckily, I stopped at Stillnovich today and got a couple pounds of rhubarb, enough for another crumble and another batch of compote.

In fact, it was an awesome day at the market in general, even though I didn’t bring Iris along today. I’m making this fennel recipe from The Wednesday Chef tonight to go with some mini-frittatas, so I grabbed a fennel bulb and a Meyer lemon. At Bavarian Meats, I got Iris some landjäger, the very chewy German pepperoni that is a current obsession of hers.

I was thinking about morels and ramps for the frittatas, but Frank’s said that ramps aren’t in yet and I should check back soon. They had some early morels at Sosio’s, but I’ve had mixed results with early morels before and these were $20/pound, so I guess I’ll wait until the Broadway farmers market and see what Found and Foraged has on opening day, May 13. The frittatas will be cremini and shallot. As Iris has been saying lately, “That seems reasonable.”

Whenever I shop at the market, I have the same thought as when I nail a funny one-liner (in real life, not online): if my life were a TV show, this is pretty much what it would be like all the time.

5 thoughts on “Compote yourself

  1. MOM(Judy)

    I couldn’t agree more. Nothing is better than Rhubarb Crisp or Crumble, but a close second is Rhubarb Compote on soft-cooked Cream Of Wheat. Way more than the sum of its parts. I wonder how treating the CofW like polenta and frying slabs of it, then topping with warm compote would be.

  2. Neil

    Or maybe a Cream of Wheat souffle? With rhubarb sorbet? And a little anglaise or creme fraiche wouldn’t hurt?

    Growing up, we always had rhubarb compote over vanilla pudding. We grew our own rhubarb and went through a lot of the stuff.

  3. mamster Post author

    Patricia, we made them almost exactly the way you do. I used less cheese but put in some half-and-half, and I spooned the eggs over the cooked mushroom and shallot. Your version sounds great, too.

    edit: Like your first version, I should add.

  4. Patricia

    I found that the mushrooms made them a bit more… watery. I like a little denser frittata. But pouring the eggs over the mushrooms sounds interesting. I’ll have to try that.

    -Patricia

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