Time to use that rhubarb

When those glorious red stalks are waiting, you can’t have too many recipes.

Readers are still pulling rhubarb from their gardens and picking it up at farmers’ markets, because I’ve had a few calls for the Rhubarb Marmalade and Rhubarb Crisp recipes that ran last month.

Here are a couple more to add to your collection. The first is a Rhubarb Loaf recipe from Diane Green of GreenTree Naturals. She sells organic produce at the Sandpoint Farmers’ Market and sends this recipe to her Community Supported Agriculture customers with the first harvest of rhubarb.

“It is similar to a banana loaf or zucchini bread. Excellent for breakfast, brunch, with soups, or just simply serve as a between-meal temptation,” she says.

The second recipe is from Chef David Blaine, of the Latah Bistro. He recently perfected this recipe for Rhubarb Sorbet and posted it on his blog www.thebackkitchen.blogspot.com.

He made the first batch while just winging it, but re-created the “surprisingly creamy and tart dessert” while taking notes. And he tried a third batch to reduce the sugar in the recipe, but it turned out too icy.

I quartered his original recipe to try it in my ice cream maker at home. It worked perfectly and tastes incredible.

Fresh Rhubarb Loaves

From Diane Green, GreenTree Naturals

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cups finely diced rhubarb (food processor is easiest)

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together in a large mixer bowl the butter (or margarine) and brown sugar. Add the egg and beat until well-blended. To the flour add the soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Combine the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Blend in the vanilla. By hand, stir in the nuts and lastly the rhubarb.

Pour batter into two greased and floured 9-by-5-by-2-inch bread pans. Sprinkle the mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon on top of the unbaked loaves.

Bake in 350-degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from pans.

Note: These rhubarb loaves are best the next day, when the spices and rhubarb have a chance to mesh. Also the bread can be frozen.

Yield: 1 loaf

Approximate nutrition per serving (based on 15): 297 calories, 12 grams fat (4.5 grams saturated, 36 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 45 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 330 milligrams sodium.

Rhubarb Sorbet

From Chef David Blaine, Latah Bistro

4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch sections

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Place the rhubarb in a heavy-bottomed pan with no oil or water. Cook over low heat until the rhubarb releases enough water to avoid burning on the bottom. Continue cooking until the rhubarb is soft. Run the cooked pulp though a food mill or very carefully pulse it in a food processor. Heat the remaining ingredients over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Combine the rhubarb puree and the syrup and whisk until smooth. Cool thoroughly.

Freeze sorbet in ice cream maker as directed.

Yield: 12 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 139 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 2 milligrams sodium.