Strawberry rhubarb crisp

I love rhubarb and we are lucky enough to have about 5 plants that grow in our yard. I started playing with this recipe last week and after I tried it again this weekend, I think it's now ready to post.

Preheat the oven to 350

4 cups sliced rhubarb
4 cups slices strawberries
1/4 cup sugar ( I use raw sugar but white or brown would work just fine)

Combine these 3 ingredients in a medium shallow size casserole dish and prepare topping

In a large bowl combine
2/3 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2/3 cup brown sugar

Stir the flours and sugar together and then add

2/3 cup softened butter ( margarine would work as well but I prefer butter)

Using 2 knives or a pastry mixer blend the butter into the flour mixture until it is well mixed. Using the pastry mixer will mix the butter more completely but as long as the butter is cut into small pieces and mixed throughout the flour mixture it will work fine.

Add the mixture to the top of the casserole dish pushing it down around the edges, so that it doesn't spill out. (My casserole looks very full once I add the topping but the fruit cooks down and it doesn't spill over the edges. )

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes

Serve warm with ice cream, whipping cream or plain. I like all 3 ways.

Roasted Potato Salad

There is something about warm weather that makes me want to eat potato salad, I am not sure why I always feel so drawn to it but I do. I am often on the look out for new ideas, ways to make those potatoes sing with flavour. Last week I was inspired by a few other recipes and after a little trial and error I came up with this, enjoy.

3 pounds of 2 different types of potatoes, (I used red and yellow) cut into wedges about 1 inch in length. I leave the peels on but without would work as well.
2 large sweet peppers (red, yellow or orange) cut each pepper into 6 or 8 long slices for roasting
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces.
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
24 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Dressing

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon of each of the following oregano, basil and rosemary ( I use dried)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 425 f. Add the olive oil to the bottom of a roasting pan large enough for the potatoes and peppers. Heat the oil for 5 minutes, remove pan from oven and add the wedged potatoes, mix well to coat the potatoes in the worm oil. Arrange potatoes so that they occupy 2/3 of the pan, add the cut peppers in the empty space. I find that keeping the potatoes and peppers separate works best. Place the pan in to the oven. Cook for 10 minutes, remove pan, mix the potatoes well and turn the peppers, return pan to oven to cook for another 10 minutes. Then remove the pan and repeat the process. The potatoes should be cooked after about 30 minutes, transfer them from the pan into a bowl and put the peppers back in the oven for another 10 minutes. You want the roasted peppers to be soft enough that you can peel the skins off, in my oven this takes about 40 minutes total.

While the peppers and potatoes are roasting cook the green beans. Add the cut green beans to a pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes or until they tender, rinse them immediately with cold water to stop them from becoming over cooked. Drain and place onto a clean towel, pat dry. Add the sliced onion, chopped olives and cooked beans to the bowl with the potato wedges.

Remove the peppers from the oven, allow them to cool until they can be handled easily. When they are cool the skins should peel away easily ( use a small knife if they don't come away). Peel all the pepper pieces and discard the skins. Chop the peeled pepper pieces into bite size chunks and add them to the bowl.

Make the dressing. In a blender combine the garlic, spices, oil and vinegar, blend until the garlic is minced and the dressing is well mixed, about 1 minute.

Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. This salad is best if made ahead and allowed to to sit at room temperature for 2 or 3 hours. If made the day before remove it from the fridge early enough to allow the salad time to come to room temp. before serving

Great for barbeque's and summer potlucks.

FYI - I experimented with roasting the potatoes and peppers on the barbeque, it worked quiet well but in the end took about the same amount of time as in the oven