Tomato Pasta #12 | The forced rhubarb edition
Pretty in pink. Innit.
Each year, a frankly obscene number of column inches are devoted to Valentine’s Day — and in particular, the food we should apparently be cooking. Weirdly, no one ever mentions what’s hiding in plain sight: cooking for your lover (fingers crossed), is basically the same as feeding kids.
Honestly, it really is the exact same formula:
Have to hand some fresh, crunchy, on the face of it healthy but not overly filling things ready to stave off hanger while you pull the meal together.
Pasta.
Then something sweet that appears low-key, yet is also a tiny bit impressive and exciting … but if interest is lacking, can be packed away without waste or pissing off the cook (that’s you).
So basically it’s:
Dippy snacky bits, including cucumber.
Tomato pasta for the kids; linguine alle vongole for your Valentine (use this one by
).Plus the dessert I’ve detailed below: a forced rhubarb kinda fool with pistachio crumb and mascarpone shards thing. Which is ace. There will be leftovers if you’re just two (fine, repurpose for breakfast). Or, if the spark has been replaced by sproglets and it’s just another Friday night, then there’ll be enough to feed them too.
Do give it a go — whether ‘it’ is the perfectly pink rhubarb, the mascarpone shards, or the whole caboodle.
Cheers, Ed.
The Recipe
Is broken down into a few elements. All of them are keepers, and you should adapt and use with other things as and when you wish.
For example, longtime Instagram followers will recognise the rhubarb method as my go-to way to ensure Barbie-pink yet still intact forced rhubarb; and the mascarpone shards as one of my easiest hacks for making a dessert look and taste fancy (even/especially if the dessert is basically just breakfast).
Please note
It is essential that you poach the rhubarb the night before you want to eat it. The colour comes from those little pieces patiently sitting, sharing and developing their bright pink party vibe for 12 hours.