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It’s spring, and rhubarb is busting out in the garden. We’ve been trying to find other uses for the tart plant than simply in the ubiquitous Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. So we created a chutney.
Last night, we had this chutney with quinoa, a piece of rockfish, and a mixture of roasted garlic, pearl onions, and shallots. We paired the meal with a Barnard Griffin Chardonnay.
WINE
Barnard Griffin Chardonnay 2007 – Washington
Still another winner from Barnard Griffin. Nose is distinctly of apples, with floral notes, violets, mints, herbs. The taste has a nice medley of crisp green apple, lemon, a hint of earthiness, maybe even eucalyptus? Does it make any sense to say it’s light but has a little weight? Just enough acid keeps it from being dense and overly creamy. Yes. $10 on sale, usually $14.
CHUTNEY RECIPE
- Cut rhubarb stalks (the leaves are not edible) into 1/2-inch pieces, making about 2 cups
- Coarsely chop about 1/2 cup onion
- Quarter dried apricots to make about 1 cup
- Put about 1/2 cup vinegar and maybe 1/4 cup sugar in a saucepan
- Add all the onion and half the rhubarb (this portion of rhubarb will cook down to almost a paste)
- Add spices of choice – we used a home-made Garam Masala (Indian spice mixture), but ginger, cinnamon, or such would be good
- After about 10 minutes of cooking, add the apricots
- When the apricots soften (maybe another 10 minutes more), add the other cup of rhubarb (you might need to add a bit more vinegar if chutney looks too dry)
- Cook until the second round of rhubarb begins to soften, but stop cooking while the pieces are still whole
- Chill immediately
