April got a bit stressful for me between school and extra work and Amy with her travel and visitors also had a crazy month. After a much needed day off yesterday for studying and sunshine, I am feeling well prepared to end this quarter of school strongly. With that, Amy and I are aiming to do 1 recipe each week instead of the original 2. It's weird that a culinary student barley has time to cook for herself at home, right? Haha.
I started back up with a Pudding made of Rhubarb and Barley because, well...it's springtime and Rhubarb isn't going to be local for much longer! The rhubarb is cooked down in orange juice and the barley is used to thicken the whole tart mix of juicy fruitness. The texture combination (Karen, you might want to skip this part) of squishy/creamy/liquid was too weird, so I pureed the whole bit to get more of a consistent smoothness. It is an extremely tart "pudding", too strong to eat on it's own. The flavor is good, but I'm having trouble deciding just how I will eat it? I'm thinking it would be delicious folded into some yogurt, so I may pick up some plain soy at the store and try that out.
I'm not sure I'll make this exact recipe again, but the principle I picked up here is great! Grain flakes (find em' in the bulk section...only $1.99/lb!) are a great way to thicken a sweet dish. I can imagine a cobbler version of something like this with a sugary crumb topping and extra grains hidden right inside with the sweet stuff. Gotta love that!
Cheers to a beautiful Spring, Seattle is certainly having one. -Vicki
Photos of the blended and unblended versions of tonight's dessert.
Yikes..this was super tart! Ben and I could only eat one spoonfull and that was it. He dared me to take another bite but I was not a fan of this dish. amy w.
I think I'm going to heat it up and stir in some sugar, then top it with a crumbly topping as though it's a dessert crisp. I'll let you know how it goes! -Vicki
ReplyDelete