Rhubarb time, A recipe

Now is the time for wild growth in my two rhubarb plants which will continue as along as I dead head with severity. It is known in New England as pie plant for the obvious reasons. There is a quick recipe for the standard strawberry-rhubarb pie filling on page 437 of Microwave Gourmet. I have had great good luck with it in savory cooking. A friend has given me a jar of rhubarb chutney which is something that I will try. Page forty-seven of my American Food and California Wine has a good recipe for duck breasts with rhubarb.

This weekend I made a very quick microwave dish for one or two to serve with rice of four ounces of fatless, boneless (a trimmed pork chop) pork, a three ounce stick of rhubarb that was trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal to make a half cup, two ounces of onion in quarter-inch cubes and I cheated and used a half cup of pre-made marinara sauce and salt and pepper. All mixed together in a four-cup measure tightly covered with plastic wrap, it took four minutes in a highish power microwave oven. I would think five-and-a-half minutes in my trusty, old seven-hundred watt oven. It was yummy.

Tomorrow I will try a real top-of-the-stove version and let you know the results.