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Food for Thought Friday: strawberry rhubarb sauce in the instant pot, and another live zoom class!
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Two things to tell you about today:
First things first: I'll be teaching another LIVE zoom class on Tuesday, May 25!
It'll be the same format as my April class:
Intuitive Cooking TONIGHT! - happening 5/25 around dinner time, wherever you are! (Two different time slots - for my people on all coasts or in between.)
We had SO much fun in the April classes - and I can keep teaching this for a WHILE because it will be different every time based on what you all have in your fridges!!
Here's the format of the class:
- Scavenger Hunt in your kitchen/fridge for categories of food items.
- Quick Lesson on the meal "formulas" I use most often to cook intuitive, delicious, healthy meals in 20 mins or less
- Cooking Plan/Cooking Time! - Based on what you find in your scavenger hunt, I brainstorm and coach/guide you individually to make a quick-dinner plan using what you have around, likely in ways you haven't thought of before! Then everyone will make dinner live on the call together - you can ask questions throughout and we'll show and tell at the end (time permitting)!
My students reported that they learned so much from *each other* in addition to me, which I LOVE!
Here's what Arielle and Ian said about our last class:
“Not only was Jess’s cooking class a BLAST, she had me use a vegetable in a way I absolutely never would have considered and I’m eternally grateful as I’ll be repeating that combo forever!”
-Arielle
“I liked how we were forced to raid our pantries and use things that we otherwise might have left behind. We ended up with a delicious dinner we wouldn’t have normally made! - Ian
Read more / sign up here! In this next class I'll focus a bit more on flavor families. And of course, my FFTF subscribers get a discount, so use the code READER at checkout for $11 off, meaning class costs $18.
And now onto our second topic...
one of my favorite slightly obscure plant-foods... RHUBARB!
What is rhubarb exactly?! I really enjoyed reading the rhubarb wikipedia page, which put it so well: rhubarb is an edible plant stalk, which is technically a vegetable but often treated like a fruit, aka it's most often eaten in desserts and sweets, or "stewed" into jams and sauces. Apparently it can also be pickled, which is definitely gonna be my next rhubarb move.
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I can't really tell you what's so special about it, other than the pretty color, but I just LOVE it. When I was chopping up this here rhubarb on Tuesday, I was amazed by its distinct aroma! "WOW it really smells like RHUBARB in here!" I thought as I was adding it to the pot.
Of course, rhubarb is best known for being combined with strawberries in pies, crumbles, and other fruit-filled desserts. Rhubarb tastes very tart, so you have to add sugar and/or fruit to make it tasty.
I mainly cook it the way my mom used to - by making a super easy "strawberry rhubarb sauce." As a kid, my mom served it to us warm over ice cream. Nowadays I more often eat it on top of yogurt with some toasted nuts.
All you have to do is chop up the rhubarb, clean and de-stem some strawberries (if you want), add some sugar and optional spices, put it all in a pot, add a little bit of water, and simmer it on low until it's soft and saucy.
I am gonna write that out for you shortly in a recipe format, but what I want to briefly highlight today with this recipe is that --> I made it in the Instant Pot.
I haven't talked too much about the Instant Pot in my Friday emails, but I am definitely a big Instant Pot fan! As someone with a tiny kitchen, and as a lover of "cooking while I work" - the Instant Pot is a key cooking appliance.
However, my main use of the Instant Pot is NOT the Pressure Cooker function that many people seems to employ most. I actually love the slow-cooker function best. I don't have a separate slow cooker so I can't compare the Instant Pot to one of those, but what I love is using the slow-cooker function in COMBINATION with the saute function, and/or the pressure-cooker function.
The slow-cook function is perfect for cooking anything you might simmer for a while on the stove. It's a little slower/less hot than the actual stove would be, which means it takes longer, but the benefit is I feel super comfortable actually forgetting about it, and most often when I remember and come back, my food is done. Sometimes I'll use the saute function to get a "hotter head start" before my slow cook, or - if I am trying to slow cook meat, and it's taking too long, I can always then use the pressure-cooker function to finish it off or speed it up.
There is much to say about the Instant Pot, so I'll stop there for today, but - while many of us are still working from home - if you have an instant pot that you think could use some more USE, I urge you to consider the slow cook strategy. It's great for tomato sauces, apple sauce, and especially beans (see guide to cooking beans here, which mentions using a slow-cooker, but I really meant the Instant Pot slow-cooker function, which is what I always use to cook beans.)
In the past I'd always made this strawberry rhubarb sauce on the stove, letting it simmer while I was cooking something else too. But this week I threw it instant pot in the morning, forgot about it, and came back to it in the afternoon. Tasted it, added more sugar, and ate it both warm and cold all week in little snacks like this (or a few times with vanilla coconut ice cream)!
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Next time you see rhubarb, I hope you'll remember to buy it and try this out!!
Easy/Intuitive Guide to (Strawberry) Rhubarb Sauce:
by Garlic Press Jess
This is written as a guide instead of a recipe because I never measure and I'm pretty sure you can't mess this up! You can just do rhubarb without the strawberries, too!
Ingredients:
- rhubarb, at least 3 stalks
- strawberries, optional - as many as you like
- sugar or another sweetener
- spices (optional) - I like whole spices, this time I tried cardamom and mace
- water
Instructions:
- Wash the rhubarb, and strawberries if using.
- Trim the ends (remove anything that's part of the rhubarb leaf as eating the leaves can make you ill) and chop rhubarb into chunks, about 1/2-1 inch thick.
- If using strawberries, destem them. You can cut them up if you like but it's not really necessary because it will all get cooked down!
- Add rhubarb (and strawberries) to a sauce pot (ie, a pot with high sides) - you should fill the pot no more than 3/4 the way with the rhubarb/fruit. Add a few spoonfuls of sugar/sweetener and any whole (or powdered) spices you like. Add water to come up about 1/3 as much as the rhubarb/fruit fills the pot.
- Stovetop instructions: Cook on low/simmer for 30 mins-1.5 hours until the fruit is softened.
- OR Instant Pot instructions: Place on slow-cook for 2-3 hours with the lid off! You can mostly set it and forget it, but check periodically until you get the hang of how long it will take, and then how much you want to thicken it. To give it a hot head start, you can use the "saute" function to get it boiling/simmering faster, and then slow cook for 1-2 hours.
- Once the rhubarb/fruit has softened, taste and adjust the sugar - you will likely need more. If the sauce is too liquidy, you can continue to cook it down to thicken it up, though it will also thicken a bit once you put it in the fridge overnight.
- Serve over ice cream or with yogurt/granola/toasted nuts. It's great warm, room temp, or chilled - I eat it all ways!
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It would also be great with the granolas I mentioned last week...
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All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.
If you like this email, it would mean so much to me if you'd forward it along to your favorite food-loving friends. Wannabe subscribers can sign up here. Thanks for reading!
In case you missed out, here are a few past issues to check out:
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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!
I currently work + live on land that is the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. And I can't wait to eat at Cafe Ohlone! Check out this article about them.
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