As we wait for Spring to make its grand entrance, luckily we can still enjoy a pop of colour in these dreary winter days, all thanks to forced rhubarb season. Running right through from December until the end of March, bright & beautiful pink stems of rhubarb are available. Although technically a vegetable (seriously), we tend to consider Rhubarb more as a fruit as we tend to use as such, often sweetening the sometimes bitter stalks with ample sugar.
The best forced rhubarb comes from the ‘Yorkshire triangle’, a nine-square-mile area between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. The reason it grows so well here is because rhubarb like the cold, rain & nitrogen rich soils (well, Wales definitely has two of them), all of which can be found here. It’s also a bit of a frost pocket, rhubarb tubers need these cold temperatures to activate, which is why rhubarb can be a little bit more expensive to buy following a mild winter.
What set’s forced rhubarb apart from wild, outdoor grown rhubarb is not only it’s vivid fuchsia colour but also its flesh is whiter, less fibrous & has a more delicate, sweeter flavour. This is all down to how it is grown, a lengthy process that takes two to three years. As it’s technically an out of season rhubarb, the crowns are first grown outside for a period of two years, exposing it to the elements & toughening those roots. The crowns are shrouded into darkness, usually covered by a large cloche. This darkness & warmth lures the rhubarb out of its winter hibernation early & forces it to grow quickly as it desperately searches for some light. This forcing means that the characteristically large canopy of leaves never get a chance to form, meaning that photosynthesis never takes place, leaving us with bright pink stalks.
Like a bee to a flower, it’s these pops of pink that lure me in as peruse the fruit & veg stall, it’s hard to resist. A spot of colour filled baking is just what we need right now (plus it keeps my hands busy until I can sow a multitude of seeds in a few weeks time). When it comes to rhubarb, there are a multitude of excellent flavour pairing to be had, but let’s face it, the king & queen of these has to be either ginger or custard. Here’s one sweet little recipe that combines rhubarb & ginger in some pretty, pink galettes. A light, crisp, rough puff pastry shell, filled with a sweet ginger frangipane & crowned with pretty rhubarb slices. They’re a lot easier to make than they look which lets face it, is the beauty of a galette.
RHUBARB & GINGER GALETTES
(makes 6, 4 inch galettes)
Ingredients:
For the rough puff pastry:
- 225g plain flour
- 25g icing sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 50g unsalted butter, well chilled
- 55g lard, well chilled
- 87ml cold water
- 1 tsp demerara sugar
For the ginger frangipane filling:
- 100g ground almonds
- 40g caster sugar
- 40g butter
- 1 large egg
- Pinch of salt
- 25g fresh ginger, grated
For the rhubarb topping:
- 300g rhubarb, chopped into small, thin slices or thumb sized pieces
To finish & glaze:
- 1 1/2 tbsp apricot jam
- 1 1/2 tbsp water
Method:
For the pastry:
- To make the pastry, sift together the flour, icing sugar & salt into a large bowl
- Take 1/4 of the lard (roughly 26g), cut into small cubes & use your fingers to rub this into the flour
- Take the rest of the lard & the butter & use a grater to grate all of the fats into the bowl
- Use your hands to stir through the grated fats so that it is covered in flour & evenly distributed
- Make a small; well in the middle of the mixture & pour in the cold water
- Use a blunt knife to stir & bring the dough together (you may need to add a little more water, add it in a little spoonful at a time if you do)
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface & use a rolling pin to roll it out into a long rectangle shape
- Take the top (short side) of the pastry & fold this down two thirds of the way down the length of the pastry
- Take the bottom (short side) of the pastry & fold this over the top of the piece you just folded downwards
- Cover the pasty in a beeswax wrap or some cling film & place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes
- After the pastry has chilled, re-roll it out into a long rectangular shape & repeat the same folding method as before
- Re-cover the pastry & chill for at least 30 minutes before using
For the filling:
- In a large bowl, briefly whisk the egg before removing 1/2 tbsp for brushing over the pastry later
- Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl & combine using a wooden spoon or a handheld mixer
To assemble the rhubarb & ginger galettes:
- Once the pastry has chilled, roll out to approximately 3mm thick
- Use a 6cm cutter to cut out 6 large rounds from the pastry, re rolling any off-cuts if necessary
- Taking one spoonful of the frangipane mixture, add it to the centre of each of the pastry circles & spread out into a smaller circle shape, leaving approximately a 4cm gap between the edge of the frangipane circle & the edee of the pastry
- Arrange the rhubarb slices on top of the frangipane, still keeping a 4cm gap around the edges
- Next, take the uncovered 4cm gap of pastry & carefully fold them inwards over the filling ingredients, towards the centre of the tart (this doesn’t need to be neat!)
- Brush the top of the pastry with the reserved beaten egg before sprinkling over the demerara sugar
- Place the galettes onto a parchment lined baking sheet & bake in the oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes until the pastry has turned golden in colour & the rhubarb has softened
- Set aside to cool on a cooling rack
- Once cooled, make the glaze by simply heating together the apricot jam & water in a small saucepan
- Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze all over the top of the rhubarb
