Week 1

Food

radishes

lettuce

rhubarb

spinach

Recipe

My grandparents and aunt and uncle visited the weekend after Memorial Day. I wanted to have some special food on hand. In addition to making my family's favorite brownies and hitting up the Cheese Importers, I decided to make a strawberry-rhubarb jelly concoction for toast or with cheese and crackers. I read through several cookbooks and chose a simpler recipe from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins. I modified it to the following:

5 large stalks of rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

2 cups hulled, halved strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Stir well and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, until the rhubarb is tender, about 10-12 minutes. Remove any foam that forms on the surface.

2. Remove the vanilla bean and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate. It will keep for two days.

Yields approximately 2 cups

Notes

Rhubarb, which grew untouched and uncooked by me in the backyard of my last home in Boulder, seemed daunting to use. But it is easy. Cut off all leaves, as they are inedible. Trim a bit off the top and bottom of the stalk. Peel off strands from the bottom of the stalk with a knife by simply pulling upwards.