Rhubarb, Cucumber & Mint Salsa

Increasingly, I’m realizing that every culture has its form of “salsa.” When I was down in St. Lucia a few weeks back, I found out they have their version called souscaille. In South Asian cuisines, it’s called kachumber, and in African cuisines, kachumbari. At all points, it’s a fresh salad, often with onions or shallots, with acidity in the form of the juice or segments of citrus or vinegar. I wanted to inject a little seasonality into my salsa this week, and spring’s tart rhubarb was the perfect add.

Rhubarb, contrary to popular belief, is a vegetable, and it has a crisp, fresh texture that’s somewhere between jicama and celery with a sourness that’s reminiscent of green apples. I’ve played with it before in a dessert, a granita, but here I wanted to see what it could do from a savoury point of view.

The cucumber and rhubarb meld together beautifully. You have the cooling, soothing, watery cucumber contrasted with the tart bite of the rhubarb. The shallots add mellow onion flavor and the fresh mint a bright finish. It would be perfect on fish or shrimp tacos or a simply grilled chicken breast. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields approximately 2 ½ cups

2 mini seedless cucumbers, cut into a small dice

1 stalk rhubarb, cut into small dice

1 shallot, finely chopped

juice of half a lime

½ tsp kosher salt

pinch cayenne pepper

pinch white sugar

small handful fresh mint, finely chopped

Procedure

In a small bowl, toss together the cucumbers, rhubarb and shallot. Add the lime juice, salt, cayenne, sugar and mint mix thoroughly.

Rhubarb-Kewra Granita

I mentioned screw pine extract (kewra) a few weeks back and its intoxicating, floral perfume. When I spotted some beautiful rhubarb at the greenmarket, I just knew it was a match made in heaven. As the weather has been warming up, I thought a spiked granita would be a great way to showcase both of the flavors.

Granitas are awesome because they are great for lazy cooking days. They require so little – water or juice, fruit or another base ingredient, sugar, any other fun items you want to throw in, and a freezer. No ice cream maker is necessary, and in a few hours, you have a lovely frozen treat. I added a bit of vodka to make mine, but it can totally be left out for a kid-friendly/nonalcoholic version.

Screw pine, which is used in Asian and Middle Eastern cooking, is found in both sweet and savoury dishes. When sweet, the dish is often a milk-based dessert – a fantastic way to feature the delicious scent. But, truthfully, it’s really complimentary to fruits and balanced the tartness of the seasonal rhubarb here perfectly.

Here, I cooked the rhubarb down with some sugar and lemon juice, puréed, strained, and added the kewra and vodka. Ridiculously easy. A few hours of freezing and scraping with a fork, and the granita was complete – crunchy, melt-on-your-tongue ice, sweet, tart and floral. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

3 ½ cups rhubarb, cut into ½” pieces (approximately 5 to 6 stalks)

2 ½ cups water

1 cup sugar

generous squeeze of lemon juice

3 tbsps screw pine extract

¼ cup vodka (completely optional but nice)

Procedure

In a medium pot, add rhubarb, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring up to a simmer and simmer covered for 3 to 5 minutes until rhubarb basically falls apart.

Transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. (Be careful when blending hot items! Hold down the top with a towel.) Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer (cheesecloth-lined preferably) in a bowl. Add screw pine extract and vodka, if using.

Transfer mixture to a metal baking dish – I used a 12”x14.5”x2.5 inch lasagna pan – and place uncovered in the freezer. Remove after an hour and use a fork to scrape / disrupt the ice crystals. Repeat process every 45 minutes for the next 3 or 4 hours until completely frozen and desired texture.

Cover with plastic wrap if not serving immediately.

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Rhubarb, Cucumber & Mint Salsa

Rhubarb-Kewra Granita