The Chef: Dave Ford (the Bluebird)The Challenger: Toni Roberts (Roof, State and Lake)The Ingredient: Strawberries and rhubarb
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The first recorded rhubarb recipe—from a cookbook published in 1806-’07—is for a tart, but rhubarb was used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years before that. Its roots are a powerful laxative, and at one time the plant was believed to cure plague. Strawberries have been consumed for much longer, but various parts of the plant, including the leaves and roots, have also been used to aid in digestion and to treat sunburn, skin diseases, and gout.
He roasted the rhubarb and strawberries with green garlic, red onion, and olive oil, then pureed everything and added a little maple syrup—not to make it sweet, he said, but to balance out the rhubarb. Though he’d never tried roasting strawberries before, he also did some on their own, drizzling some extra-virgin olive oil on at the end. “The richness of that olive oil and the concentration really bumped up the flavor of the strawberry,” he said.
Video by Michael Gebert/Sky Full of Bacon
Strawberry-rhubarb sturgeon
Strawberry-rhubarb puree
Fried green garlic
