Rhubarbmisu: the rhubarb dessert you should all be making this weekend

A very special, slightly boozy rhubarb pud

What a week. Despite the nerves, I was feeling really good about launching here on Substack - energised about sharing new recipes and writing for people who have specifically signed up to receive them, and exhilarated for the two-way conversations I’m hoping will ensue. The response, feedback and support so far from you all has just been incredible, and beyond what I had hoped. So THANK YOU. I’m thrilled that you’re joining me here, excited for the fun we’re going to have, and my brain is fizzing with ideas about the things I want to share and do. But that’s enough gushing. I thought I’d launch into the weekend with a little early preview for paid subscribers of the sort of thing they can expect from my ‘Something For The Weekend’ recipes, which will usually be dropping at the end of each month. And this REALLY is a good one. 

It’s March, it’s forced rhubarb time, and so, my friends, I give you rhubarbmisu. It’s a recipe I’ve been working on for a while (as any Instagram followers might have seen), and it’s a rhubarb bonanza, perfectly timed to coincide with the availability of Yorkshire forced rhubarb, which - in case you don’t know - is specially grown in dark, damp sheds in Yorkshire’s rhubarb triangle (a 9sqm mile area in West Yorkshire, near Wakefield) and hand-harvested by candlelight. Growing rhubarb in this warm, dark environment tricks it into thinking that it’s spring, resulting in fast-growing, super sweet, highly nutritious vivid pink lengths of this magical vegetable (yes, technically a vegetable), and I know all this because a few years ago I filmed a short piece about it for Saturday Kitchen which sometimes comes back to haunt me on Best Bites (see pic below). It was wild: you can literally hear the rhubarb creaking and cracking as it grows. But the real point here is this - it’s a wonderful ingredient that brings so much colour and unique flavour to desserts at this time of year, and while it does command a pretty penny, I’d say it’s worth splurging on as a special treat.

And this recipe, my friends, is just that. It’s a total showstopper, and a deliciously joyful celebration of rhubarb. You can unlock the recipe below (and all monthly ‘Something for the Weekend recipes to follow) by signing up as a paid subscriber below.