Rhubarb Crunch

It seems to be what all the cooks I read are blogging about these days - but who can blame them? Rhubarb is just SO YUMMY! And I have my own recipe I crave every spring, which comes from the cookbook put out by the Mennonite church I attended as a child. However, don't follow that recipe, because it has typos that will cause your crunch to fail. Rather, bake it from here:

Rhubarb Crunch

Filling
5 c. sliced rhubarb

Crust
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. thin-rolled oats
1/2 c. melted butter

Sauce
1 c. water
1 c. sugar
2 T. + 1 t. cornstarch
1 t. vanilla
pinch salt

1. Wash, trim, and chop the rhubarb.
2. Preheat the oven to 350-375*.
3. Mix the crust ingredients. Press 3/4 of this mixture into the bottom and up the sides of an 8x8 baking dish. Dump the rhubarb into this crust and shake the dish to even it out in the crust.
4. In a small saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar and cornstarch. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, whisking until thickened. Add the salt and vanilla.
5. Pour the sauce over the rhubarb, and sprinkle with the reserved crust mixture.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until rhubarb is cooked.
7. Let cool for 2-3 hours to allow the sauce to cool and rethicken. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Spring Lettuce with Sweet Cream Dressing

Winter is officially history with the start of Boston's farmer's market, but with a temperature of 88 on Friday, I hardly think this can be called spring.

This year, I purchased a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share that I am quite excited about. Year after year, I've looked enviously at the share boxes, but the situation never seemed quite right for us. We don't have a car to pick up a box of produce, we aren't that adventerous in eating, and we don't have a large refrigerator. But this year, one of the Boston farms was offering a share that is essentially a credit at their market stand. Perfect - I can buy as much as I want of what we'll eat. On Friday, I bought myself basil, parsley, and cilanto starts to plant on our fire escape. I also bought some rhubarb and a head of spring lettuce.

I am so in love with spring lettuce - those floppy, sweet, tender heads. Hardly anything can improve them, but the tradition in our family is to toss them with a sweet cream dressing. I happily comply; it makes for a dreamy thing to eat. So, if you find yourself staring at a gentle head of lettuce this season, grab it and toss it. You'll wish it was spring all year.

Sweet Cream Dressing
2 T. real mayonaisse
1/4 c. half & half
1 T. white vinegar
dash of salt and pepper
1 T. sugar*

Put all the ingredients into a container and shake it. Set it in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to allow the dressing to thicken. Meanwhile, prepare the lettuce. Add the dressing slowly to the lettuce while tossing until covered as desired. Serve immediately. Makes enough for at least two heads of lettuce.

*This dressing can be tossed with cucumbers, lettuce, or any other mild spring vegetable. Vary the sugar according to taste. I like the sugar on lettuce but not on cucumbers.