Adventures in Baking

Or, what to do with not quite enough rhubarb for a pie.

I adore rhubarb. And rhubarb pie, which I can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Especially really tart pie with melting ice cream on top -- mmmmm. And we got rhubarb in our CSA! But only a few stalks of it, nowhere near enough to effectively make a pie. (Joy can say it only takes 4 cups of rhubarb if it wants, but I beg to differ -- rhubarb pie should be thick and filled to the bursting.) So I had to think of something else to do with said rhubarb, and this is what I did:

Preheat oven to 450*.
Chop rhubarb to about 1/2 inch pieces (I had about 4 cups)
Put in bowl along with:
1 cup concentrated orange juice
1/4 cup flour
1 Tb butter (melted)
Mix until gooey and let sit for a few minutes. Then pour into a 9x9 pan.
Cook rhubarb at 450* for ten minutes, then turn down oven and cook at 375* for twenty minutes or until soft.

While the rhubarb is cooking, make your favorite quick-rising coffee cake recipe for a 9x9 pan. (Mine is from Joy, 'cause I'm lazy. I can provide it if anyone wants one.)

Pull out the rhubarb... puddingish thing and let it cool until it's stopped bubbling. Stir a bit to loosen the thicker sauce at the edges. Cover the top with the coffee cake batter, and pop back into the oven at 375* for 20 minutes or until done.

It came out really, really well. I served it like upside-down cake, with the rhubarb on top. The rhubarb and juice thickened enough the make a really nice layer, and it's not overly sweet. (It would be a good dessert if served with vanilla ice cream, though.) It's sticky and rhubarby and also more filling than pie. And very, very nummy. *goes and eats more*