This rhubarb crisp takes less than ten minutes to throw together—an easy but seriously scrumptious dessert. The tanginess from the rhubarb mixed with the vanilla and orange zest, is the perfect complement. Finish it all off with a scoop, or two, of vanilla ice-cream. I’ve always been slightly intimidated by rhubarb, wondering how those giant celery-like stalks could be appetizing. It seemed to go out of vogue for a while, but now it’s having a moment…sort of like brussel sprouts a few years ago and now cauliflower.

A blogger I follow, Mama Eats Plants, posted two simple ways with rhubarb which gave me the final push to go out and buy a few stalks and test a recipe. The stalks sat around for a few days, taking up valuable space in our small refrigerator here. With each passing day they stared at me, and I back at them; until finally I took the plunge. Now, I understand everyone’s obsession with it! Rhubarb is super cheap and one of the easiest vegetables to work with (yes it’s a veggie!). All you do is slice it up and cook until soft. A lot of people like to add berries to their rhubarb pies or crisps, because of the tart flavor, but I like it on it’s own.

It’s is all over the market here in England and I’ve enjoyed some delicious rhubarb puddings (that’s what they call desserts here). They sell forced rhubarb here which have more green hues. it looks a bit more drab after cooking than the bright red stalks of field rhubarb, but tastes just as good. In California, they usually only sell the bright red variety, which look-wise, is a plus!

A scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top is a necessity, so please don’t serve this dessert without it. I actually picked up some cashew ice-cream from the health store in town, and for a moment I forgot it wasn’t regular ice-cream…except I didn’t get a stomach ache a few minutes later. I suppose you could serve the crisp with some whipped cream, but I like the contrast of the warm and cool. Give this recipe a go and let me know how it turns out.

Bon appetit!

x Mary

//Tools//

baking pan

measuring spoons and cups

2 mixing bowl

rubber spatula

serving spoon

//Notes//

• I used gluten-free Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour without xanthum gum

• I have made this using butter and olive oil, both were good

• There are two types of rhubarb—field and forced. The field rhubarb has more vibrant red stalks, you see it more in California. Forced rhubarb has hues of green and red and is found in cooler climates such as the United Kingdom. The green parts of the forced rhubarb will turn brown when cooking, but it still tastes good.

• I used coconut sugar, but you could sub standard granulated sugar.

• I used a navel orange because I like there flavor and they tend to be the juiciest.

• You don’t have to make this recipe vegan, you and always use standard butter and regular ice-cream!