Rhubarb Adventures...

What to do with all the Rhubarb from my Gypsy Family Farm shares... Well Rhubarb pie would be the obvious answer except I have childhood nightmares of being forced to eat horrid Rhubarb pie in Primary school in the days of school dinners. I also am not a 'pie' fan... I hate pastry.. It is heavy and the last thing I want after a good meal! So I went searching online and found a recipe for a 'Ruffled Phyllo Tart with Spring Fruit'. (cooking.com is always a good place to search when you are stuck for ideas!) This seemed really appealing to me, I love the other fruit in it, it is phyllo pastry so not so heavy AND it looks so pretty! The finished pie reminds me of an Elizabethan collar...
So this is how much I disliked Rhubarb... I hated the smell of it cooking... I hated the smell of it cutting it up... and mixed in with the other fruit it just reminded me of snot. Eweee gross right??

I changed the recipe a bit from cooking.com... I used honey and ground almonds instead of breadcrumbs for between the layers.. I thought it may have more of a baklava taste to it.... I also cut the rhubarb into slightly bigger pieces... thus losing the snot texture :)


Before it is ready to go into the oven! Pretty right? It's super easy to make and quite impressive to present to dinner guests...


SO the final verdict?? The apricot was too sour with the sour Rhubarb... We didn't find the fruit combination a good one and my hubby not a big apricot fan... I attempted the tart a second time as I had plenty of Rhubarb to do so and this time omitted the Apricot but added blackberries and strawberries....


This was a much better combination and made the tart sweeter but without losing the tartness of the Rhubarb and without adding a ton of extra sugar to it....

Here is the recipe for my 'Rhubarb & Berry Tart':

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey plus extra for between the layers of phyllo
1lb fresh Rhubarb trimmed and cut into pieces no smaller than 1 inch
1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with cold water
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blackberries
Oil & butter melted together to brush on phyllo
Phyllo pastry thawed (Presidents Choice make it.. it comes in a box and you can find it in the grocery store, freezer where the pie crusts are)
Ground almonds Icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 9 inch pie dish place a piece of phyllo centered in dish... Lightly brush with butter & oil mixture, drizzle with honey and sprinkle some of 1/2 teaspoon the ground almonds on... Repeat with 5 more sheets of phyllo, laying each at a 45° angle to the previous one and sprinkling each with ground almonds & drizzling with honey. Scrape the filling into the crust. Brush one of the remaining phyllo sheets with oil-butter mixture. Place another sheet on top at a 45° angle. Repeat with 2 more sheets. Place the stack on the filling. Fold the overhanging phyllo up around the tart, creating a ruffled border. Dab any remaining oil-butter mixture on top. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake until nicely browned and bubbling slightly, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature (about 1 1/2 hours). Dust with icing sugar.


So I have to say that I have acquired a taste for the Rhubarb that I disliked so much...!