Oh my crumble, tandoori salmon

Y'all, this crumble looks and is amazing, and I will post my recipe for you stat. Rhubarb-cherry-hibiscus compote with a whole wheat-oatmeal-almond topping. AARGH! That little pool-like opening is where I dug right in. I had to test it, yes? The combination of cherries with rhubarb isn't one I've seen before, and I'm glad to say it's delicious. The cherries add a sweetness but also a complementary tarty zing that is nice with that which rhubarb provides. And the hibiscus takes all that a step further. Have you ever pitted cherries with just a paring knife? It is a messy, extremely time-consuming process which leaves your fingers and nails stained magenta for a few days and decimates the prettiness of the cherries. As such, a cherry pitter has become an indispensable tool for me during cherry season, for desserts like this crumble and for jams and preserves that utilize both sweet and sour cherries. OXO has a new'ish cherry pitter that has a splatter shield. I received one at the Eat, Write Retreat I attended in May, and it is fantastic. Not only do you get the benefit of the pitter itself but also the splatters are confined within the shield; the shield itself is removable for easy cleaning. This is  a great product so check it out if you're heading into cherry land this season!

The school nurse called about 45 minutes before pick-up today because Jack had a bad headache and a slight fever which had come on since lunchtime. Poor honeypie, and thank goodness for Advil. He's got nothing diagnosable so I'm hopeful that a good night's sleep will improve matters. Anyway, at the doctor's office, I was able to peruse the newest Food & Wine issue and came across a delicious-sounding tandoori salmon recipe. As it turns out, I'd bought some King salmon earlier today, so tonight we are going to have my riff on the F&W dish- a yogurt-based marinade spiked with garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, fennel, paprika and salt. Salad, cocktails, fresh bread, and then, oh then, that crumble.

Pickled scapes

Garlic scape pickles, vanilla sugar, rhubarb crumble

The pickled garlic scapes are beautiful and are in the water bath now. I used a recipe by foodinjars' Marisa McClellan but, in addition, added a clove of garlic to each jar. After their week of rest and pickling, I will let you know how they are. With the amount of scapes I had, I made two pints plus a bit for the fridge, so I might taste along the way as well. I also wanted to let you know about a marvelous tip I learned last weekend during the canning demo I attended: you can re-purpose seeded vanilla bean pods! As Marisa was making strawberry-vanilla jam, the cost of vanilla beans came up. Not only can you buy them in bulk (she recommended vanillaproductsusa.com) which is much less expensive than one-off purchases at the store, you can rinse and dry them for reuse. After making my batch of strawberry-vanilla jam, I rinsed, dried and then immersed mine in a jar of sugar. You can also submerge vanilla beans in vodka to make homemade vanilla extract.

Lastly, as if I were blind but then could see, I've just realized that I still have an enormous amount of rhubarb in my fridge. Yo! I think I'll chop and freeze some and with the rest make a rhubarb crumble for dessert tonight/breakfast tomorrow. Sounds so darn good, yes?

Off to fetch the pickled scapes from their bath.