I went to the community market recently for local asparagus. They had none, but the local rhubarb looked fantastic. Such is the way of a locavore - go to the market searching for a vegetable side dish, come home with ingredients for dessert.

Some might say that rhubarb is a vegetable only a mother can love. It requires care to grow and lots of sugar to balance the sour. My own mother is well known for her fantastic strawberry rhubarb pie.

Having no strawberries, I remembered that my father's mother, Grandma Joyce, makes a rhubarb crisp. I called her and she rattled off the recipe from memory:

Chop stalks of rhubarb into bite sized pieces. Lil helped me with this. We layered them in a quiche dish I inherited from Grandma's mother, Great Grandma Leona.

Top rhubarb with sugar. Add as much as you think will balance the sour and then some. I stirred in a tiny bit of vanilla too.

Cut 6 tablespoons butter into 1 cup flower and 1 cup sugar. Grandma Joyce uses margarine but I only had butter on hand.

Stir one egg into the mix until it pulls together. Drop the topping over the rhubarb. Grandma says to dot the top with butter but I skipped this step. Why, to keep it healthy??

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the rhubarb is bubbling through the center and the topping is browned. Grandma says the crisp also bakes well at higher or lower temps if you have something in the oven; simply adjust the time down or up respectively.

I served this crisp on plates from my step Great Grandmother Guth. Her first name was Rebekka and somehow she ended up with these dessert plates with the letter R on them. I'm the only one with a 'R' name in the family so I inherited them.

I am lucky to know and have known so many food loving mothers. Happy Mother's Day!

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Rhubarb Crisp Makes: 8 servings Time: 25 minutes preparation, 50 minutes baking

4 - 8 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped (quantity depends on your desired topping to fruit ratio)

1 cup sugar (adjust according to your taste)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

1 large egg

1. Mix chopped rhubarb, 1 cup sugar and vanilla in a pie plate, 8x8 pan, or quiche pan.

2. Cut butter into 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar.

3. Stir in egg until well mixed.

4. Drop topping onto sugared rhubarb.

5. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

[/print_this] Wow! Two recipes in a week? What is this, a food blog?!

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