Yesterday, I received a message from a lovely lady with whom I used to work. Most people who know me recognize that I am one of the world’s biggest lovers of rhubarb pie. I am lucky (in many ways) that The Blonde in the house is one of the greatest bakers of rhubarb pie. In other words, we are completely compatible in that area (as well as others, I hasten to add). However, the lady mentioned in the first sentence has sent me a recipe using rhubarb which she indicates would equal if not surpass the pie.
I am highly doubtful of that, but the recipe does appear to have potential. If rhubarb grew in Florida like it does where I grew up in Pennsylvania, there would be no problem. I would simply indicate that we should grab some rhubarb and try it. However, rhubarb is scarce down here, and the stores have it infrequently. I recognize that you can sometimes buy it frozen and that is an option. Still one does not jeopardize the scant supply one has. This particular recipe is called rather pretentiously, “Best Rhubarb Dessert”.
Instead of pie shape, you take a 9 X 13 pan, put the rhubarb custard in a baked crust, and then top it with meringue. Now what I have to do is weigh the fact that when The Blonde makes the pie, she puts a crust over it. This means that you weigh a crust that I know is excellent versus the taste of meringue. In addition, there is the fact that with the excess dough, she bakes some snails. Snails are thin slices of dough that are buttered and coated with sugar and cinnamon. They are then rolled and baked. An excellent concoction. It is one that you can not beat as an appetizer for the pie so I do not want to minimize the availability of the necessary dough.
There is one advantage for the new dessert. We have friends who try to find out when The Blonde is baking a rhubarb pie so they can try to mooch some. They also know that my birthday is rapidly approaching and that she normally bakes a pie on that day. Now if I say we should try the new meringue dessert, I wouldn’t be fibbing when they call to wish me happy birthday, and I say that she didn’t bake a pie this year. Actually, I am pretty safe this time as we now live in an Independent Living Facility, and they don’t allow us to have any guests yet due to the pandemic. We would like to have guests especially since most of our friends and even the grand-kids have not seen our charming quaint, but small condo. Obviously though, there is a benefit to no guests at this point.
While it is always good to receive messages from friends, such a contact can leave one with a conundrum. am obviously going to have to study this issue with a great deal of thought! The success of my birthday may depend on it.
Hey, I wonder if The Blonde would consider making both!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com