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Under the Wire!

There are deadlines, and then there are deadlines! Sometimes every other week comes up faster than I expect, and all of a sudden it’s time to submit another column. And then there are seasonal deadlines. I’ve had times when I create a wonderful recipe just as the produce is at the tail end of the season. In such instances, I may write up the recipe and set myself a reminder for the following year so that I can publish it just prior to or at the beginning of the season for that treat. This time, though, I called Guido’s and checked with the produce department and they though they would still have rhubarb for another couple weeks!

The other nice thing about this recipe – and rhubarb itself – is that it freezes beautifully. For rhubarb, I clean the stalks and cut them into 1- to 2-inch pieces, spread them on a half sheet pan to freeze, and then put them in a bag for longer storage. I have also frozen this rhubarb agrodolce sauce (this recipe makes about twice what is needed) and I have frozen extra pieces of salmon cooked in the sauce!

So go get some rhubarb before it’s gone for the year, and either make this now or save it – the rhubarb, the sauce, or the finished dish – for later!

WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR

by Elizabeth Baer

 Having grown up in New York City, I am always aware that the Berkshires embodies small-town living. We live in different towns and, yes, even cities (thinking about Pittsfield and North Adams), but there is a closeness no matter when you live in our county, one that always seems to produce wonderful stories of locality.

Surely our “claim to fame” (one of many, of course) as the home of Norman Rockwell tends to portray life in the Berkshires with quintessential nostalgia for a perfect, simpler era, that was never really simple and certainly wasn’t perfect. Yet there really are wonderful things that happen because of the small-town mindset. Some of those things have happened to me at the end of the driveway.

A couple weeks ago, very early one morning, when I walked to the end of the driveway to retrieve our Berkshire Eagle, I said hello to our neighbors from down the street who are often out walking their dog at that hour. As I turned and headed back toward the house, they called out to me to tell me that they had way more rhubarb than they needed, and that I should just walk down some day and take some. Another time, a few years ago, I initiated a refinance of my mortgage when I ran into someone who works at our local bank, again while I was getting the newspaper.

As for the rhubarb, back in April when I was researching spring-inspired fish recipes for the pescatarian guests at our Passover table, I found several that included rhubarb. What I served then was good, but I knew it could be better. Taking my cue from the agrodolce profile in Italian cooking, I imbued it with a bit of New England, adding maple syrup to my rhubarb sauce, and used it to cook fish fillets on the stove top.

We loved this, it’s so easy, and your house will not smell of fish! Also, the recipe makes enough sauce for a second dinner, so I now have the other half of the sauce in the freezer ready for another evening. In addition, rhubarb freezes well. Just cut it into 1 to 2-inch pieces, spread on a half sheet pan to freeze, and then store in plastic bags, taking out what you need for this recipe or for a pie, for a taste of the spring in the dead of winter!

AGRODOLCE RHUBARB SAUCE WITH SALMON

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 small onion (about 4 ounces), diced

  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • Few grinds fresh black pepper

  • ⅛ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (optional)

  • 1 pound rhubarb, fresh or frozen, cut into 1 to 2-inch pieces

  • ½ cup canned tomato purée or crushed tomato

  • ½ cup water

  • ¼ cup real maple syrup

  • 1 pound salmon or other firm fish, cut into four 4-ounce portions

DIRECTIONS:

Heat olive oil in medium saucepan until shimmering and fragrant. Add the onion, ginger, salt, pepper, and Aleppo pepper, if using, and sauté until the onion is beginning to brown on the edges.

Add the rhubarb, tomato purée, water, and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb has mostly fallen apart. This can be done ahead, and will make 3-4 cups of sauce, about twice what you will need for a pound of fish, but it freezes well and makes for an easy dinner another night.

Place 1½-2 cups of sauce in the bottom of a lidded sauté pan, large enough to hold the salmon pieces in one layer. Place the salmon pieces skin side down on top of the sauce, bring to a simmer, cover, and continue to simmer until fish is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.