Chile-Braised Pork Tacos with Rhubarb Salsa

Amy bought some tasty looking pork shoulder from Truck Patch Farms via the 14th and U Street Farmers Market, and we had some dried chiles leftover from a delicious batch of pozole she made a few weeks ago. Put them together and you get... ta da... chile-braised pork shoulder tacos! Pretty tasty! I think perhaps next time I would leave a couple seeds in the chiles, though, as it wasn't as spicy as I was hoping for.Coupled with some rhubarb salsa (loosely based on this recipe, but simplified even more- just lime juice, scallion, jalapeno, cilantro, a pinch of sugar), the tacos were a tasty treat. I served them along with some black beans with toasted corn, and followed them up with some delightful Mexican spiced chocolate pudding (which I made a few years ago and loved).

Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets

One of Tim's all-time favorites is strawberry-rhubarb pie. Luckily it's easy to come by these ingredients at the CSA in the spring. Armed with super ripe berries and tart rhubarb, I decided to use a recipe for lattice-topped mini-tarts that I found in Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts cookbook (snagged, along with her cookie book, for a cheap price at TJ Maxx on Friday). I tweaked the recipe a little bit to my taste, as described below, and they came out great! Not too sweet, super buttery crust.

Here's how I adapted the filling:

2 cups strawberries, cut into tiny dice

3 stalks rhubarb, cut into tiny dice (about 1.5 cups)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 TBS orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier

3/4 cup sugar

Fro Yo with Rhubarb Compote and Toasted Almonds

So DC, being approximately 2-3 years behind New York and L.A. in all things cool/hip/trendy, has recently had a proliferation of tart fro-yo joints, a la Pinkberry (OMG, the song on this website is heinously bad!). I'm not complaining about the fro-yo, because I love it, but I am complaining that I had to read about how awesome Pinkberry and its brethren are for months and months before any of it hit DC.Anywho, the stuff is addictive like a mofo. Fro-yo like a mo-fo. But not cheap. However, lucky for me (and you), it's super easy to make at home. It's basically Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt, strained to thicken it up), mixed with some sugar, and thrown into the ice cream machine. This recipe is great, although I might ease up on the sugar a bit to ensure the final product is super tart.

Topped it with a simple rhubarb compote and some toasted almonds.

Rhubarb Syrup for Cocktails and Other Tasty Beverages

I had a couple extra stalks of rhubarbs left over from my coffee cake... not enough to make anything particularly substantial, but just enough to try out this rhubarb simple syrup.
The syrup is super easy, can be used for both boozy (rhubarb cosmopolitans, see below, but be warned that the lemon/lime in this recipe overwhelms the rhubarb flavor a bit) and non-boozy (rhubarb soda) drinks, and is a fun pink color.
Also, the leftover rhubarb bits form a kind of jelly/jam substance that's pretty tasty in and of itself. It's definitely not a pretty or fun pink color, though... it's more of a sad army green once the pink has been sucked out and applied to the simple syrup.

Big Crumb Coffee Cake with Rhubarb

Got the first rhubarb of the season and thought we'd make this Smitten Kitchen recommended big crumb coffee cake... mmmm. Big crumbs = delicious.
Tim commented, "Can you just make me rhubarb coffee cake the rest of my life?" That's saying a lot considering Tim normally says "It's good." when I ask him what he thinks of a particular dish I've made.

Our sour cream was a little long in the tooth (i.e. green and hairy), so we substituted some Greek yogurt. Also, Chuck misread the recipe a bit and used the microplane to grate some fresh ginger in with the rhubarb rather than use dried/ground ginger.

Apple Rhubarb Crisp

I asked Chuck to throw this crisp together on her day off in order to use the last of this season's rhubarb and 3 or 4 random apples we had floating around in the veggie drawer from CSA shares past.

It stuck to the pan a bit and got a wee bit burnt on the edges despite being taken out 10 minutes early, which confused us a bit at first. Then I glanced at the recipe while writing up this post, and realized that it was supposed to bake at 350 degrees, not 450, which is what Chuck set the oven to... oops!

No harm, though. It tasted great with some whipped cream.

Jennifer provided the artistically placed mint sprig. Tim was worried the mint would leave an unappealing "taint" on his crisp, which made us giggle.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Rhubarb Applesauce

I forgot to get a photo of this with the salad, to give it some color. A little monochromatic, but delicious nonetheless. The pork is based on a recipe Mom gave me (see below)... slow cooked overnight then topped with sauce and slapped on a bun. I meant to make challah buns using the recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day, but it somehow failed to occur to me that it was going to be hard to bake bread and pork in the oven at the same time. So Chuck just bought regular hamburger buns, which were totally fine.

Chuck made the applesauce based on this recipe with the collection of random apples we were amassing in the fridge from various weeks of CSA, combined with rhubarb, also from the CSA. The rhubarb gives the applesauce a nice tart kick.

Tailgater's Pulled Pork

Rub (makes a huge amount, but you can save it for later):

1 1/4 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup ground cumin
1 cup black pepper
1 cup cayenne pepper
1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup dried thyme
1/4 cup dried oregano

Mix all ingredients by hand.

Pulled Pork:

1 boneless pork butt (approx 4 lbs) for 8 sandwiches (you can use one with a bone in it, too- the pork falls off the bone when it's done cooking)

Rub pork butt with 1/2 cup of the rub.
Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
In a Dutch oven, with a small amount of oil, sear outside of the butt.
Put in the Dutch oven, covered, and bake at 275 degrees for 7 to 8 hours, or until tender.
Let cool for 20-30 minutes, then pull meat apart with two forks.
Toss with barbecue sauce, or serve with sauce on the side.

Barbecue sauce:

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup ketchup
3 T brown sugar
1 T yellow mustard (I think we used Dijon and it was fine)
1 T molasses
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper

Rhubarb Ginger Compote on Greek Yogurt with Honey

Chuckie lent a hand and made this simple rhubarb ginger compote, which we served for dessert over a bit of Greek yogurt. The compote is not super sweet, so we squirted some honey on top, too. A nice combination! I bet nuts or granola would also be nice with this.

Chicken Thighs with Rhubarb and Shallot Compote

This recipe is definitely a keeper and a great way to eat rhubarb that doesn't involve strawberries and a ton of sugar. The original recipe I was working with used pork tenderloins, but I didn't have those on hand, so I figured chicken thighs (yes, the ones in the 6-packs from Costco) would be a good substitute. Good guess!

Slightly sweet, slightly tart, totally moist and tender. The chicken and compote cook in little foil packets on a hot grill, but I bet you could do them in a hot oven, too, in parchment and/or foil.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

"Tim, can you preheat the oven and pull out the pie plate, please?"

"Ehhhhhhhh... when you said you'd make me a pie, I didn't think I'd have to be involved!!!"

Used another Smitten Kitchen recipe, although I omitted the cinnamon and substituted some lemon juice instead since I have a weird thing against cinnamon in sweet dishes. I only like it in savory dishes like chili, etc. Pretty tasty, although a little watery as the recipe noted.

First Rhubarb of the Season

Made a cornbread-crusted strawberry rhubarb cobbler with rhubarb from the farmers' market (strawberries aren't quite out yet here- I got those at the Giant). Mmmm. Rather than follow the directions for the cornbread topping, I just used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix with an egg and a cup of leftover buttermilk that I wanted to use up. Worked out just fine!