Wakefield Rhubarb Festival 2020

Chef Rob Delve & Marketing Man, Ted Newton take to the stage over the next few days at Wakefield’s Rhubarb Festival. It is a fantastic chance to celebrate the wonderful vegetable (it isn’t a fruit!) and the local areas history of being the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’.

The boys will be at the cookery demo stage on Friday 21st February at 12:15pm and Saturday 22nd February at 11:45am with 2 rhubarb related dishes which you can find below. We’ll also have our familiar Wakefield wooden chalet, full to the brim with fantastic rhubarb produce, fresh from our bakery. Millie & Sharon will be there on the Friday and over the weekend so do go and visit them.

Here are a few fun rhubarb facts to get you in the spirit!!!

  • Colour matters! The colour of the stalk determines the taste. The darker the red stalk, the sweeter the rhubarb!

  • Rhubarb is normally considered a vegetable (it’s a member of the buckwheat family) but a New York court ruling in 1947 made it an official fruit in the United States!

  • Beware!! The leaves attached to a Rhubarb stalk are poisonous, full of more oxalic acid than humans and animals can safely eat!

  • Rhubarb can reach 6 to 10 feet in height but your typical garden varieties are usually smaller.

 

Pan-fried Duck Breast with a Rhubarb & Sloe Gin Sauce, Tender stem broccoli & Sautéed New Potatoes

1 x Duck Breast

2 x Stalks of Rhubarb (Cut into chunks)

100ml Sloe Gin

100ml Water

25g Caster Sugar

30ml x Gravy

150g New Potatoes

60g Tender stem Broccoli

Vegetable Oil

 

Score each duck breast skin with a sharp knife in a hot pan with the vegetable oil and pan fry skin down. Once golden brown, flip skin side up and cook in the oven at 180C for around 8-10 minutes.

Chop the rhubarb into chunks & place in a pan with the sugar & sloe gin, reduce until Rhubarb is cooked. Add a little gravy to reduce the tartness of the sauce. Leave to simmer.

Trim the bottoms off the tender stem broccoli and cook for 4-5 minutes in boiling salted water. Cut the new potatoes into thick slices and Sautee in vegetable oil, salt & pepper. Cook until soft.

Present on plate how you like and enjoy!

 

Rhubarb & Chia Pudding

3 Stalks of Rhubarb (cut into chunks)

200g Caster Sugar

150ml Water

100ml Gin

400ml Coconut Milk

4 tbsp Chia Seeds

20 ml Maple Syrup

15g Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

 

Add Chia Seeds to coconut milk along with maple syrup, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Combine with a spoon and leave to sit.

Add the chunks of rhubarb into a pan with the sugar, water & gin and bring to the boil. Summer until rhubarb has broken down. Leave to cool. Put rhubarb compote into a glass jar or gin glass. Pour a little maple on top & then pour on the coconut milk mix and refrigerate. Serve with a couple of shortbread biscuits.