Crazy for Rhubarb

This year I've gone crazy for rhubarb. Until recently I couldn't have cared less for the bitter stalks. But now I'm addicted to their taste and texture once cooked with a bit of sugar and paired with strawberries or raspberries or even better: both. 

The first idea I had when I was picking out my rhubarb at the store was to make a rhubarb compote with just rhubarb, sugar and water. Then I decided I needed to put the compote on something. Vanilla ice cream or a cream made of mascparone came to mind. I decided on the mascarpone cream first of all because it's hard to find Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream (the only store-bought vanilla ice cream in Europe I deem worthy of its title--the US has many more options) and second because you can determine the sweetness if you make your own mascarpone cream. At the store I also found fresh strawberries so I decided they would round off the whole recipe. The following photo is the delicious result of this first attempt. 

This was already a pretty good combination. A few days later I ended up buying a food processor with an integrated blender (one of my most exciting purchases recently!) and decided that it was time to try a new version of the rhubarb recipe. This time I made a rhubarb compote with raspberries and then put it in the blender. I also blended the mascarpone cream in the food processor (instead of using a whisk). Although this is also tasty, I think I prefer a few chunks in my compote and a thicker version of the mascarpone cream (which you get when whisking by hand). 

Instead of arranging the compote and cream in a glass you can just put the cream in a bowl and top with the compote and fresh strawberries!

Rhubarb-raspberry compote

2 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup frozen raspberries

Put rhubarb, sugar and water into a pot and cook on high till mixture is boiling. Add frozen raspberries and turn down the heat. Cook until rhubarb is tender, but not too soft. At this point you can choose to leave the compote the way it is or let it cool down and then put it in a blender, blending until you get the texture you want. 

Mascarpone cream

225 g mascarpone 

180 g plain yogurt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk all of the above until the texture is smooth and creamy. You can also choose to make this cream in a food processor (but be aware that you will quickly get a very smooth and less creamy consistency) or alternately use a hand mixer (which I haven't tried yet).