Recipes & Food Styling

Rhubarb and “Auntie” Sanny!

I was blessed to grow up with a big patch of rhubarb always coming up behind the garage and plenty of rhubarb custard pie in the house this time of year. My mom loved to bake with rhubarb, and when she didn’t have enough, she hit up friends and neighbors for any they were willing to spare. The back seat of her car saw its share of bundled rhubarb en route back to her kitchen from across town!

Another wonderful blessing to me as a kid was the fabulously creative and caring friend that my mom came to know in the early 1980s- Sanny Russell. I’m so grateful that she was part of my life! “Auntie” Sanny delighted in picking up blue ridge plates, juice glasses and more to suprise me with. What a treasure to have someone care so much for you as a child like Sanny cared about me! Often, the dishes weren’t a complete set but just a fun, sweet sampling of kitchen nostalgia that I loved to collect! I’m so pleased that among these special gifts that I received throughout the years was a complete set of ice cream parlor glasses. I put the Rhubarb Crisp for my Mother’s Day brunch in the glasses, and it made dessert so much prettier and special! A tribute to a dear and beautiful woman who was like another mom to me!

Rhubarb Crisp

3 cups rhubarb, cut into bite-size pieces

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup flour

1 cup oats

1/2 stick butter

1 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Using your fingers, spread butter so that is thinly covers a pie plate.

In a large bowl, combine rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice. Evenly cover the pie plate with the rhubarb mixture. Mix together brown sugar, oats, flour, cinnamon, salt and butter. Spread topping over rhubarb in pie plate. Place 6 little pats of butter evenly across the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the rhubarb crisp is bubbly and browned around the edges.