Sharing is caring!

When my husband and I got married we had no household necessities, we were both living at home and did not have much in the way of household goods to take with us to our new home.  So our registry included most of the stuff that any functioning kitchen and household needs, and any cash gifts we got also went to purchasing basic items. But I did splurge on one cook book,  it was the first hard covered, written by a chef cookbook I ever bought. Being a young bride the title spoke to me, the photography was stunning, and I loved the laid back playful attitude in the kitchen. I can pinpoint the moment in my life when my love affair with baking developed, it was during the early days of  married life, after I finished my accounting homework, and poured over How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson.

 

The first recipe I tried out of this cookbook was rhubarb grunt, and it was beautiful. At the time I believed recipes were to be followed, it took some time for me to get comfortable in my new kitchen, and gain the confidence to try different things. After many years of marriage, and many successes and fails in my kitchen, Rhubarb grunt is still good. My tweaks and adaptations have drastically changed the original recipe, but every time I make I think about the early days of married life and learning my way around a kitchen.  How to Be a Domestic Goddess helped me overcome my believe that cooking  and baking had to be regimented and recipes strictly adhered to be successful .

 

According to Wikipedia a grunt is a New England variety of  a cobbler.  I think the name is fun, and not often heard here in Upstate New York. I always get quizzical looks when I bring it to a picnic and people ask what it is and I reply “Strawberry-rhubarb grunt”.  The name has never deterred anyone from eating it though, I always end up bring home a empty dish.

I have always been slightly annoyed that the strawberry and rhubarb seasons are close but don’t really overlap. Because rhubarb is in abundance now, but strawberries will not be ready for a while, I used Dole Whole Frozen strawberries in this grunt.  The original recipe Nigella’s  biscuit topping was touchy and leaned towards the dry side if you were not careful.  The biscuit topping here is borrowed from Martha Stewart’s Raspberry-Rhubarb Grunt , I have found this version to be much more forgiving.