This tangy and tart rhubarb vinaigrette will liven up your spring salad | Canada Voices

Rhubarb season tends to generate thoughts of pies, crisps and intricate upside-down cakes, but it’s also a good time to make pale pink vinaigrette, particularly if you have a stash of frozen rhubarb that needs using in order to make room for this year’s harvest.

Stewed rhubarb blends into a wonderfully smooth and creamy vinaigrette, its tang lending tartness that would normally come from lemon juice or vinegar, its fibre adding body that helps generate a lush texture. Cook fresh or frozen chopped rhubarb with a bit of water – enough to come half to three-quarters of the way up the rhubarb – until it’s very soft, then blend with some honey, mustard, a bit of vinegar and oil. If you want to make a larger batch of stewed rhubarb, it freezes beautifully – stewed rhubarb is more compact than fresh, and the added moisture protects it from freezer burn. Freezing it in small containers or ice cube trays offers a size that’s easily added to smoothies or quickly thawed to use in vinaigrettes.

Stewed rhubarb also works brilliantly as an emulsifier when making mayonnaise – use 2-3 tablespoons in place of the egg or egg yolk, placing it in a measuring cup or narrow container with a small spoonful of mustard, a teaspoon each of sugar and cider vinegar and a pinch of salt, add 3/4 cup canola or other neutral oil and put a hand-held immersion blender all the way down to the bottom, turn it on and pull it up through the oil as it thickens and emulsifies.

Rhubarb Vinaigrette

With a pale pink colour, this is reminiscent of the pink poppyseed dressing that was popular through the sixties, seventies and eighties, which got its colour from red onions and/or red wine or raspberry vinegar. If you have any pickled red onions in your fridge, add it to your dressing before you blend it.

• 1-2 rhubarb stalks, chopped
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp apple cider, raspberry or red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard (or to taste)
• 1/3 cup canola or olive oil
• salt, to taste

Put the rhubarb into a saucepan and add enough water to come about 3/4 of the way up the rhubarb; bring to a simmer and cook for 5-8 minutes, until very soft. Remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.

Transfer to a measuring cup or tall container – you should have about half a cup – and add the honey, vinegar, mustard, oil and a pinch of salt and blend with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. Makes about 3/4 cup.