The Food Matters Project: Take 2 - Fish Braised in Rhubarb Sauce

If you've been following along with this rhubarb recipe debacle, you'll know that my first take at this assignment was, tragically, devoid of the namesake ingredient: rhubarb. How do you make a rhubarb sauce without rhubarb? Well, you don't. But I tried...and so did a bunch of the bloggers in the Food Matters Project.

Then, the day after my attempt, I came across rhubarb at a grocery store whose produce clerks had sworn to me, over the phone, that they wouldn't have rhubarb available until June. I bought every single stalk. No joke.

I just needed to get some other rhubarb creations out of the way before I braved this again. Besides, I wanted to read all of the other bloggers' takes and incorporate the best elements. I have to admit that the four in my household are rhubarb fanatics. And I got four thumbs up on this dinner. But my husband did say, "if someone doesn't like rhubarb, this is definitely not the dinner for them...but I love it!" Me, too.

Thanks to all the bloggers who tackled this recipe, I garnered some inspiration from all of your posts. From Alissa of Big Eats Tiny Kitchen, I used honey instead of sugar; like Lexi from Lexi's Kitchen, I served it with farro. Well, I didn't have enough farro for the four of us, so I did a mixture of farro and red quinoa. And, perhaps my favorite adaptation - like Erin from Naturally Ella, I added greens to the sauce. She used kale. I had rainbow chard from my CSA box. This was a hit!

1/2 C honey

1/2 C water

4 C fresh rhubarb, sliced

2 C rainbow chard, thinly sliced

2 tepin chiles, crushed

pink Himalaya salt

flower pepper
juice and zest from 2 Meyer lemons

filets of white fish
fresh rosemary, chopped

fresh thyme, chopped

Put a large, deep skillet over medium heat and add the honey and water. Cook, occasionally shaking the pan gently, until it bubbles 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully stir in the lemon juice and zest. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until a thicker syrup begins to form.

Add the rhubarb slices, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, and tepin chiles to the syrup; adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles a little but doesn't boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften and begin to melt into the sauce, about 5 minutes. Add the chard and cook until it's wilted, another 5 minutes or so.

Add the filets of fish. Cover and cook, undisturbed, until the fish is done (a thin-bladed knife inserted into the center will meet little resistance), about 5 minutes. Taste and season with freshly ground pink Himalaya salt and flower pepper. 

 

I served this with farro and quinoa. So, with the help of the Food Matters Project community, this was a success. I will definitely make this again before rhubarb season draws to a close. Thanks, all!