Poached Rhubarb Tart

Spring is here and so is rhubarb. I am sure I mentioned this before; but at our house, we love rhubarb. My husband and I count the days until we see rhubarb at our local farmers' market. As soon as we see the first rhubarb of the season we usually make Strawberry-Rhubarb.

Since the rhubarb we came across at our local farmers' market was a still a little green, I decided to poach them instead. As I poach the rhubarb, I remembered a tart recipe. My mom bought a cookbook at her local discount retail store, Bake by Allyson Gofton and lent it to me. I ran to my cookbook shelf... Yes! I still have the borrowed cookbook (ssh... don't tell her I still have it).

The tart was super easy to make and quite delicious. The dough is very reminiscent of a shortcake.

 

 Poached Rhubarb Tart

Recipe adapted for Allyson Gofton's No-Fuss Plum Tart

Poached Rhubarb

3 Rhubarb Stalks, sliced 1/2 -inch thick

2 tablespoons Honey, I used Orange Blossom Honey

1/2 cup Water

1 large Lemon, zested and juiced (save the zest for the tart)

2 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

Combined honey, water, lemon juice and orange blossom water into a saucepan. Over medium-low heat bring the liquid to a boil. Add rhubarb slices to the poaching liquid and allow to simmer for 3 - 4 minutes. Gently remove the rhubarb and set aside, the rhubarb will continue to soften as it cools.

(optional, but I completely recommend this) Over medium-low heat, allow the poaching liquid to reduce to a syrup. It's great over ice cream, whipped cream and just about anything. You can continue to reduced the poaching liquid after the syrup state until it becomes jelly consistency. I love doing this. This is a quick yummy jelly that is just perfect on over cheese or on crackers. *yum*

Tart

2 sticks Unsalted Butter, room temperature

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

Lemon Zest

2 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/8 teaspoon Salt

Reserved Poached Rhubarb

Confectioners' Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease and flour a French tart pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. mix in orange blossom water, egg, lemon zest and vanilla paste until combined. Add in the flour mixture until just combined, don't over mix.

Press 2/3 of the mixture onto the base of your tart pan. Arrange the poached rhubarb on top the dough. With floured fingers, dot the remaining dough on top on the rhubarb.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the tart to cool for at least 10 minutes ;) and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Bake Sale for Japan

As you know, Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami March 11, 2011. I personally do not know anyone that was hit with the devastation in Japan, but to look at what happened and not do anything to help is just... well, inhuman. I needed to help in some way.

Around mid-March, I found out about Bake Sale for Japan and knew right away that I wanted to contribute. On April 2nd, the Bake Sale for Japan was a nationwide event. From NYC to Maui, artisans and artists came together to raise money for Peace Winds Japan.

The hubs and I woke up pretty early after a late night of baking for the event. We packed our baked goods into the family car and trucked our way into Brooklyn. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, even though it was snowing the day before (oh, Spring... you are so fickle). Once there, I was just in awe to see all of the volunteers and supporters.

After dropping off our baked goods, the hubs and I decided to stay awhile and peruse the Brooklyn Flea. So glad we did. Man, did we eat our way through the flea market. From hot dogs to pupusas... ate it.

Pupusas are basically grilled cheese instead of bread, corn tortillas are used. Not only can you have them with cheese, but it can also be stuff with veggies and pork. The pupusas are typically served with curtido (cabbage slaw) and watery tomato salsa, but we also got pickled jalapeños. So good...yummy! For those of you out there that haven't had a chance to eat pupusas, you MUST (that's right, caps... it's so good).

We walked by a hot dogs stand and of course we had to have one. The hubs had a kielbasa dog with caramelized onions and I had a hot dog. Not just any old hot dog, a brisket hot dog with mustard relish. One thing you need to know about me is... I love meat, especially sausage. Grilled, broiled, stewed, grilled... I eat it. Meat on a stick... yup, love it. Yeah, I was in heaven.

{Update} The money raised at the Bake Sale for Japan in Brooklyn was $4,644.00. The national total is now $124,120.38 and counting! Can't wait to hear the final count...

Part 2: Ice Wine and Lost in Canada

Okay, enough with the gibber-gabber. Let's talk ice wine. We decided to take the Ice Wine Tasting tour. The tour though the winery was actually quite lovely. We enjoyed stories about picking the fruit in the dead cold of winter at dawn and the process of pressing every single drop of juice from each frozen grape.

The process is so interesting. The sugars of the grapes does not freeze, but the water does. This allows a more concentrated juice which gives you a surprisingly very sweet wine, almost a dessert in itself. The highlight of the tour of course, was tasting ice wine. We got to taste tree different types from sweet to sweetest. My favorite is the Vidal Icewine BF. Everything else was too sweet for me. My husband in the other hand, loved all three. The Vidal Icewine BF had a wonderful honey apricot flavor.

Guess what? We got lost on our way back to our hotel. Yup, I mean super lost. Ugh... Nope, he (my wonderful husband) wouldn't ask for directions. We continued to head into the woods. It was dark and cold. The only good thing was, it stopped snowing. Did you ever get so lost that everything starts to look like a B-flick horror movie? It's the worst.

Apparently, light posts doesn't exist here. The street signs are nonexistent and covered by trees that looked like they were from the Paleozoic era. All kinds of bendy and crooked into the road. At any moment, we excepted a yeti to appear out of the woods and in front of our car. Kind of like that creepy scene from "Signs" when the UFO appears out of nowhere at the kid's birthday party. Creepy, right?

This is us in the blizzard right before we got lost. Oh... and before night fall and dirt roads. Yeah, we were soooooooooooo lost.

Also, wanted to wish everyone a happy Saturday and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday.

Go Steelers!

Part 1: Ice Wine and Lost in Canada

We made it home from our Amherst,NY/Canada and there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed. With your own sheets and pillows. I'm so glad to be home. By the way, when I say "we made it," I really mean we made it; "ALIVE." We decided to drive to Canada (Yeah, I know. Dumb, but the idea looked pretty good on paper) from New Jersey. Oh... Did I mention the blizzard?! No?!? Yup, huge blizzard. Yikes! Don't think I'm doing that again.

Nonetheless, we're home and I wanted to share my time in Canada and first time sip of ice wine. As I mentioned in my previous post; I was pretty sick, but I needed to get out of my hotel room. I'm still not quite sure if it's food poisoning or some weird stomach bug. All I can say is... it's not pleasant. Not at all!

We made plans at the beginning of the week to go Canada for the Ice Wine Festival. I really wanted to go, sick or not I was going. We researched the area ahead of time and found Hillebrand Winery. Hillebrand is the birthplace of fine wine making in Niagara, they are open all year-round and about an hour away from Amherst, NY. So, it seemed to be the perfect place for our first sip of ice wine.

We made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and of course we got lost. On top of being lost, I needed to use the restroom (sick, remember) and nothing, but trees and dirt road for miles. Oh, did I mention the blizzard?! Yup, a blizzard. And it wasn't a blizzard with ordinary snowflakes, they were huge snow-flocks.

After two hours of being lost, the snow stopped and we finally see Hillebrande Winery. The winery in nestled between Lake Ontario and the Niagara escarpment and it looked like a winter wonderland. The snow gleamed and glittered in the sunset. Just breathe-taking, suddenly being lost and sick seemed completely worth it.

 

You could see snow covered vineyards that gleamed for miles. Each vine was draped with icicles, almost like Christmas ornaments. The estate looked like a scene from "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Christmas in Connecticut." (By the way, I love this movie. I can watch this movie anytime of the year. It's great and Barbara Stanwyck is one of my favorite actors. She's amazing, hilarious and beautiful.)

Floral & Spice Gift Box

Can you believe that Valentine's Day is around the corner? It seems like we just had Christmas dinner. To be honest, I still have my Christmas decorations up... Ugh, just the thought of taking it down makes my head hurt. It's not some much the taking the decorations down that bother me. It's trying to cram those heavy Rubbermaid containers back into the closet, but it has to be done.

We've been busy taste testing recipes for Valentine's Day. Our gift box this year is a collection of floral and spice infused sweet confections. In the box we have the following flavors; Rose Water Infused Pink Peppercorn Sables, Hibiscus Sables Breton and Raspberry Sables with Chocolate Drizzle. You can buy them here.

Happy Blogiversary!

Today over coffee, I realized that exactly one year ago yesterday; I posted my first blog post. Anyone who knows me, were completely shocked that I started a blog. I must admit that it is a challenge for me. I am not one to share, I am an extremely private person. 

I was never the kid with the "secret" diary. I kept my feelings to myself and rarely shared them. I had a coloring book (Strawberry Shortcake Coloring/Activities Book) and as I got older, my coloring books evolved into sketchbooks. Drawing and painting was my escape as a child and quite frankly, that hasn't changed much. So, "writing" about my feelings and thoughts is very, very new to me.

I must admit, the idea behind this blog was to promote my business. As I started posting, I felt kind of weird about hammering on and on about my business. With each post I started sharing a little more about myself, family, travels, and recipes. So, Sugar 'n Pickles became more of a visual journey of my business ventures (mistakes included) and family. Later, I found out that my aunt in Brazil starting following my blog. Again, this little blog involved into a way to communicate with family across the globe.

Like I mentioned before, my 2011 plan is judge less and share more. I will do my best to continue on that plan.

Home Sweet Home

For the past few days, we (my husband and I) have been in Amherst/Buffalo, NY and I kinda no, no...I truly miss home. It's not that I don't enjoy traveling because I do, but my husband is here for work. I'm stuck in our hotel room because it's been snowing, not to mention that I have a stomach bug/food poisoning. The sheets in the hotel room feels and sounds like I'm sleeping in a paper bag. So... yeah, I miss my bed (6 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes and 29 seconds), but who's counting.

I shouldn't make it sound like it's all that bad. Providing that this stomach bug/food poisoning goes away, I am actually looking forward to Saturday. We are going to an Ice Wine Festival in Canada. Did you know ice wine existed? I sure didn't and I'm excited.

The pictures are quick cellphone snapshots from my hotel window.