ON THE PLATE Passing through citrus ON THE WAY TO RHUBARB

Lucky me to be on the road on another camping road trip and this time I’m truly in the land of oranges.

The Sunraysia district is just such a joy to pass through with those shapely orange trees (and mandarins too at present) looking so splendid with their thick dark green foliage and bright orange orbs of fruit, bountifully and may I say, so beautifully dotted throughout the trees.

Mother Nature has been artistically placing them “just so”.

They truly are a delight to the eye, and of course are just delicious for brekkie , so juicy, and sweet!

The ones we bought were the size of a softball, yet the flesh was fine, not woody at all.

All those sports-folk, from the little league, to netball and the more senior players, will all be hanging out for the half-time de riguer passing round of a large plastic container of quartered oranges!

But I have other “personal bests” in terms of teaming up of flavours, starting with oranges and these are (in no particular
order of preference): orange zest added to the last hour or so of slow cooked beef cheeks, the zest and juice of one orange mixed into my muesli, segmented oranges’ dusted with cinnamon and served with custard filled cannoli (sweet pastry shells, not the pasta tubes) served as a desert, jazzed up with fine slithers of dates rolled in caster sugar, and last but not least, rhubarb baked with the zest and juice of an orange.

Baking rhubarb instead of cooking it on the stove top allows its shape to be retained.

Still on my nostalgia journey, I recall the stewed rhubarb my darling ,um would cook, served with a large helping of cream for dessert, yummy but all stringy.

And to digress for a moment, it appears that Tony Le Deux and I are in the same time warp momentarily. But I can assure you dear reader, that our submission dates for articles overlap, so there’s some kind of unplanned synchronicity happening at present!

I usually prepare rhubarb by trimming the noxious leaves of course, and the root end, wash the stalks and then cut them into 2-3cm lengths.

Toss these into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle sparingly with sugar (caster, brown, raw doesn’t matter terribly) the add the juice and zest of one orange. Bake at 160C for 15 minutes until the fruit is just soft, but holding its shape. Delicious as part of your morning breakfast fruit and yogurt.

Rhubarb, like oranges, has a clean, sharp taste and is an excellent flavour for dessert to complete any dinner party or family meal.

This treasured recipe is one in my own handwriting from the box of recipe cards I delve into from time to time for old, all-time favs.

I’ve made a note that it’s from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, and was shared by my friend David, an avid cook and amazing pianist. Like Mum’s offering, this dessert is best served with lashings of cream, or ice cream, perfect for a wintery night sweet finish!

I rather think I would reduce the amount of A1 sugar to a half or threequarters – more in line with our “healthier” diets of today!