Rhubarb and Shallot Toast

Aren’t you tired of eating the same rhubarb pie every single year when it pops up at the market? I know I know, it’s a spring and summer staple but at some point it starts to get a bit redundant, so I’ve come up with a fun rhubarb and shallot ricotta toast for you. We’re taking a few steps away from the sweet desert side of rhubarb and exploring some savory ideas. 

If you don’t like all the talking you can skip to the printable recipe card bellow

recipe 

Rhubarb 1C (120g)

Shallot bulbs  3 (163g)

Port 1/2C (130g)

Brown sugar 1/4C (38g) – unpacked

Ricotta 1 ½C (280g)  

Sourdough slices 4

Procedure 

• Peel the shallots and cut into quarters lengthwise
• Set a wide pan on medium heat with enough oil to coat the bottom 
• Place the shallots in the pan with cut sides down. Sear each side until  deeply golden. Season each side lightly with salt. 
• Remove the pan from heat, add the port, then place back on low to medium heat.
• Once simmering add the brown sugar and rhubarb and reduce until the port has thickened into a glaze and the shallots are cooked into a deep ruby 
• In a separate pan toast each side of the sourdough slices until golden 

Assembly 

• Place a spoon full of the ricotta on top of the bread and spread evenly 
• Spoon the rhubarb and shallot reduction on top of the ricotta and enjoy.  

Notes 

Make sure not to reduce the port too quickly. The shallots will not break down enough and will end up drier than wanted from too much evaporation of the port. If your pan is looking dry or the shallots are still looking translucent, add bit more port and continue to reduce until the shallots broken down. 

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This recipe is pretty simple and straightforward without too many insane steps. There’s a bit of technique with the shallots, and reducing the wine but really that’s about it. This ones great for when you want to impress friends or family without working too hard.

Wine 

There are loads of wine out there but for this recipe port takes the cake. If you didn’t know, Port is a fortified wine that is on the sweeter side. Brandy is added to stop the fermentation process and through that reserves a bit of the sugar left in the wine before it gets eaten by the little microorganisms that make alcohol. This is primarily why we want port for this recipe, the extra sweetness from the wine is going to help balance out the intense tart punch from the rhubarb. Reducing the wine only makes things better by introducing more depth, melding the flavor of the shallots and rhubarb, then  turning into a rich, balanced glaze. It’s like a match made in heaven. 

Bread

When making open faced toast there’s only one bread to use, sourdough. And the sourdough has to be a thick slice, we’re talking at least a 200 page book thick minimum. We’re putting a lot of hefty stuff on top of this bread and it’s got to be able to hold up or else everything we worked so hard to achieve, all the slow reduction of wine, the ricotta, chunks of rhubarb, all on the ground in a sad pile of absurdism. I don’t want you to have an existential crisis induced by toast, so I implore you, cut your bread in thick slices.  Thicker is always better than thinner, but remember, thickest isn’t always best. If you’re going for maximum toast flavor and crunch toasting in a pan is definitely the way to go. You’re going to get some very nice and deep caramelization on your bread. This also helps prevent the bread from getting soggy too quickly. Cast iron skillets are made for this, not really, but if you don’t feel like going through the trouble, toasters work great. No hate for the handy toaster. 

My rhubarb fixation 

A couple years ago in the midst of my ongoing culinary exploration I gained this weird obsession with rhubarb. Every year I was trying to get my hands on it when I had the time and see what I could do. I found myself  with lacto fermented rhubarb, rhubarb Pie and galettes, even rhubarb ginger beer. This time around I really sat down and thought how I could use it in a savory application. Here we are now, after finding a way to balance the acidity, and make a tasty dish without falling into a rhubarb desert trap. This dish went through many versions mentally but we’ve landed on a pretty solid end product. I hope you can give this recipe a try before rhubarb disappears again for several unending months. Even so, this recipe is great without the rhubarb and I’m sure your creative mind will come up with an endless amount of possibilities for this recipe. As always, thanks for stopping by the blog!

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