I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to come across rhubarb at my local Whole Foods the other day.  We used to have this growing in the backyard on the East Coast, but it is very rare in my experience to find fresh rhubarb anywhere in Houston.  My grandmother, Dot, who is my culinary idol and would be 99 years old this month, used to make strawberry rhubarb pie in the summer.  We would have a picnic under her carport nearly every Sunday, and her desserts were always the best part. I’m pretty sure the woman subsisted entirely on sugar for the last 10 years of her life, all 98 pounds of her!

Needless to say, I scooped up several pounds of the bright red stalks and the cashier looked at me, dumbfounded and had to look it up.  As soon as I got home, I got to work chopping the rhubarb into small pieces, freezing a good amount to stash away.  I’m not sure my grandmother would recognize the final product, or approve of the lack of actual sugar, but the idea is the same.  Tart rhubarb and sweet strawberries are a match made in heaven.  I jazz them up with a bit of lemon zest, red wine and black pepper and top it with an almond flour and pine nut crumble.  This dessert is best eaten warm with a scoop of ice cream (try this coconut milk version) and shared with friends.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

2 cups strawberries,  sliced

2 cup fresh rhubarb, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

zest of one lemon

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

4 Tablespoons local honey

1 Tablespoon arrowroot

a splash or two of red wine

For the crumble: 

3/4 cup almond flour

3 Tablespoons coconut flour

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 Tablespoons local honey

1/4 cup grassfed butter (or coconut oil), softened

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 pan or skillet.

Assemble the filling by combining strawberries through honey.  Mix the arrowroot with the red wine until it is completely dissolved.  Add into the filling mixture and toss to coat.  Set aside.

Make the crumble.  Combine the flours, nuts, salt and pepper.  Add the honey and the butter and use a fork to cut into the flour mixture until crumbs form.  Keep pressing together until you have a workable dough.

Pour the filling into the pan.  Crumble the topping over filling.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until topping is browned and filling is bubbling.  Remove from the oven and serve warm.