A Fool for Rhubarb
The long-awaited stalks of bright red local rhubarb arrived at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t until last weekend that we finally hit on a rhubarb dessert worth mentioning. Sure, we’d made a rhubarb cornmeal cake that was pretty good, and our friends insisted that our rhubarb compote atop rice pudding was quite pleasant, but we weren’t satisfied.
We wanted to open the rhubarb season with a dessert that made us feel deep down how glad we were to have the old vegetable back. We wanted something simple, and something that screamed rhubarb. (A pie would’ve accomplished this, but pie is just too obvious.)
So last weekend, faced with pounds of freshly purchased rhubarb, we found this season’s winner: rhubarb fool. Fool, which, sadly, you may never have encountered, is little-known English dessert. Fancier than a pudding but less fussy than a mousse, fool is essentially whipped cream all gussied up with fruit. Traditionally made with very tart things (rhubarb, gooseberries and currents), fool is the perfect balance of creamy, sweet and tart.
It’s also gloriously simple. Fool has only about four ingredients and is made by folding a chilled fruit compote into whipped cream. If you, like us, have been known to eat whipped cream by the spoonful, then fool is the dessert for you. Light, balanced and beautifully pink, rhubarb fool,--perhaps with a shortbread cookie or two--is the dessert we’ve been waiting for. At last.
A recipe for Rhubarb Fool is after the break.
Photo by Rachael Coyle
Rhubarb Fool
four ample, or six smallish servings
Most fool recipes will have you puree your fruit after cooking to make a super smooth compote, but we actually like coming across tart chunks of rhubarb in our fool, so we don’t bother.
1 1/2# rhubarb stalks, cut in roughly 1/2” pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
sugar to taste (start with 2-3 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
The key here is to cook the rhubarb thoroughly (undercooked rhubarb is not pleasant) without turning it to mush. Place your chopped rhubarb and the 1/2 cup sugar in a medium (non-aluminum) saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the rhubarb starts to release its juices. Once there is some moisture in the pan, turn up the heat to medium-low and let the compote cook slowly, stirring just often enough to keep the compote from burning. You don’t want to stir too much, as this will break up the rhubarb. Let the compote simmer away until the rhubarb is tender and there is no liquid pooling the in pan. Check the sweetness and feel free to sweeten more if you like.
Refrigerate the compote until completely cold. If you are in a hurry, spread the compote out in a thin layer on a sheet pan and refrigerate; it should be cold in minutes.
Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla, to medium-stiff peaks. Gently fold the chilled rhubarb compote into the cream. Enjoy immediately or chill until ready to eat.
