The first thing I was taught to cook at school was Shortbread.  I remember how mine made a wonderful frizzbee when it was finished it was so hard but beautifully shaped.  That experience has always made me slightly reluctant to repeat the experience.  I tend to skip over recipes that say shortbread or shortcake as they bring those memories of domestic science disasters crashing back.

But with a growing patch of rhubarb and one last punnet of strawberries in the fridge this was the perfect recipe to try.  Even if the mention of “short” in the title did make my palms sweat a little.  But how could I resist baking something that is described as “one of the glories of the New Zealand home kitchen”.  Let me tell you, this was indeed glorious.

The thrill of picking my first home grown rhubarb was first glory though.  Unlike my mother-in-law who boasted her rhubarb growing prowess last year my rhubarb growing efforts have been a little, let’s say hit and miss.  I thought I’d killed them off but it turns out they had simply died back for the winter.  By the time the Spring arrived they were doing battle with the garlic I’d planted in the same spot.  Ophs, not a culinary combination to be encouraged.

We’re going to be eating a lot of rhubarb over the coming weeks but it’s a staple fruit in our pantry so I’m looking forward to savouring the just picked taste.  It sure beats the slightly bendy left in the bottom of the fridge sort.

This recipe is ridiculously easy if you keen your cool about creating the shortcake base.  Nothing difficult as long as you leave your childhood memories behind.

You gently warm the rhubarb with sugar (I’d recommend a little less than the recipe to bring more sweet and sour), add in the strawberries and then leave them to cool.  This gives you time to whip up the shortcake.  I used the food processor rather than the hand mix method in the recipe.  It’s not that I’m lazy but just love using my new Magimix bought with our credit card points I’ve been saving for years.

You may be looking at the pictures thinking I am truly bad at making a pastry lid.  That may be true but this recipe calls for dots of topping rather than a full lid.  You pinch the dough or you could make a dough roll and chill it and then slice it into discs if you were looking to present something dressier.  I quite like the rugged look.

When it’s cooked you have to do the plate flip thing.  Turn the cake onto a cooling rack and then flip it back onto a plate.  I’ll demonstrate.

And then over.

And then a little less heavy handedly sprinkle with icing sugar.

This is a melt in the mouth treat.  The bitter sweet combination of rhubarb and strawberries is really rather good.  You could add some cream, yoghurt or mascapone and serve it as a dessert.  We of course didn’t stand on such finery and enjoyed a slice with a good hot cup of tea. This is definitely something I’ll be doing again next year when strawberries are back in season.  It was most definitely a glory to be enjoyed.

For those who are baking along with A Treasury of New Zealand Baking you’ll find the recipe in there.

Rhubarb & Strawberry Shortcake – Adapted from Lois Dash recipe

Fruit: 3-4 sticks of rhubarb, 3 tblsp sugar and heaped cup of strawberries

Shortcake: 125g softened butter, 125 sugar, 1 egg, 225g plain flour, 25g cornflour, 1tsp baking powder

To serve: icing sugar, lightly whipped cream.

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1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.  Line bottom of 20-22cm round cake tin with baking paper.
2. Trim and slice the rhubarb.  Put in pan with sugar and put on a low heat.  Shake the pan regularly to stop it sticking to the bottom.  Gently heat until the rhubarb is almost tender.  Then turn off heat and add sliced strawberries.  Shake pan to mix and leave to cool.
3. Mix the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg.  Sift the cornflour, flour and baking powder together then add them and mix until a dough is formed.
4. Take two thirds of the dough mixture and line the base of the cake tin, bring the dough up the sides.  Load up the fruit on top.  Take remaining third of the dough and make pinched pieces to dot on top. Allow a little of the fruit to peek through.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.  Leave it for a few minutes to cool then turn onto a cooling wire and then turn it back onto a plate.  Dust with icing sugar.
6. Eat warm or cold, it’s equally delicious, served with cream or whatever your dairy delight!