Ode to Rhubarb

Rhubarb!  You lovely, stringy red stalk!  How maligned you are for your sourness, but how much the better you are for it!  How often are you ruined, senselessly, with the addition of strawberries, as though you were just a filler, or were unable to stand up on your own.  How you remind us that nothing can ever truly be sweet without being sour!  How you keep us from lazier, sweet cherry-laden desserts!  How do I love thee, rhubarb?  Truly, I am unable to count the ways.

Rhubarb is kind of old-fashioned; it's one of those fruits that people think they either love or hate, or can never tolerate unless mixed with some other kind of fruit - like a deflated, soggy, cooked strawberry (surely a travesty).  I offer this, oh ye who are skeptical of rhubarb:  Make the following recipe - it comes together in a snap - eat it with the best vanilla ice cream you can find, and then tell me rhubarb it isn't perfect, all on its own.  Or with the addition of streusel.  Surely there is nothing streusel cannot improve (thank you, Amish Grandmothers). 

Two layers of sweet, spiced oatmeal streusel, sour rhubarb in the middle, hot out of the oven with vanilla ice cream melting over the top.  I salute thee, rhubarb, and Mother, for providing this recipe, which you will surely never again need to email to me, as it now has a site of its own.  Thank you.

Recipe follows:

Mom's Rhubarb Crunch.  With only a few minor additions.

1 cup AP flour

3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal (rolled oats, not Irish)

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch ground cardamom

pinch salt

1 cup granulated sugar

2 TBSP cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups rhubarb (6-8 stalks, depending on size, chopped to 3/4 inch)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9" square pan. You might want to put a sheet pan on the bottom (or lower shelf) of your oven, as this might overflow and cause a mess.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt.  Mix until crumbly with a pastry cutter.  Press 1/2 of the crumbs into the pan and set aside.

In a 4 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla and cook over medium-high heat until clear and thick (5 minutes or so).  Turn the heat off and add the rhubarb, stirring to combine.  Pour rhubarb mixture over the crumbs in pan and top with remaining crumbs.  Bake for 1 hour.  Serve with best vanilla ice cream or cold cream.  Eat as soon as possible without burning tongue.