It isn't often that I have left overs in my house. When I do, I am usually unsure of how to use them, other than how they were originally intended. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, it does seem like bit of a waste.
There are entire cook books, blogs, and who knows what else that are dedicated in their entirety to the wondrous 'left over'. When I cook, I adapt most recipes to suite the amount needed for my boyfriend and I or just myself. Truth be told, I do that mostly to avoid having left overs. You see, there are so many recipes out there, new ones each day, every hour, every minute, that I feel as though I will never be able to whittle down my ever growing stack of clippings, jotted down recipes, and dog-eared cook books.
When it is my turn to cook, I make something different, almost every time. I rarely make the same thing twice so when I do, you know it was good. Luckily, rhubarb is one of those things that I don't have many recipes for, so when I had some broiled rhubarb left over from a salad I made, it was a rather momentous occasion. It took me a couple of days to sort out what I wanted to do with it, after all, I had only one chance and I did not want to mess it up.
Also, left over from the salad, some chevre and while there were some greens in the ice box as well, I wanted to take at least a some what different approach. A couple of days later, after arriving home utterly famished from a yoga class, it was time to go into action. Poking around the cupboards and ice box, I knew I didn't want it over yogurt or cottage cheese, but after seeing a slice of bread I knew what I wanted.
After a few brief intervals of toasting: first bread, then bread and a layer of chevre, and then with the final crowning of rhubarb, this perfect little snack is just how left overs should be.
If it seems a little silly to broil only a small portion of rhubarb, by all means, broil a few stalks and stash them in a jar in the ice box. As you will see, they are broiled with a bit of honey, so any that you would have left over would be lovely spooned over some custard, ice cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, or any other way that you can think. Rhubarb is so tart that even with the honey, it is lovely with savory dished as well. If you don't have any chevre around, ricotta or cream cheese would be just as lovely.
4 inches of rhubarb (or 3-4 stalks), cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2-1 t. honey (or 1 tablespoon)
1-2T. chevre (fresh goat's cheese)
1 slice of bread
-In an oven safe dish, broil the rhubarb and honey until soft, 3-5 minutes.
-Then comes the toasting: first the naked bread, then cheese smeared bread, and then, with the rhubarb, if using from ice box.
Of course, if you are using the rhubarb that you just made, there is no reason for the third toasting. Be sure to have some coarse salt near by when you eat this, either kosher or french grey sea salt for sprinkling.
