Tangy, vibrant rhubarb is often a dessert co-star (think strawberry rhubarb pie) but seldom the featured player. And yet, I believe these extravagantly crimson stalks deserve the principal role. A French pastry known as tarte fine seemed like the ideal vehicle to launch rhubarb to stardom.
A tarte fine aux pommes is an exquisite yet simple dessert: a thin sheet of puff pastry skimmed with apple puree and topped with slim, meticulously arranged apple slices.
The buttery pastry—flat and crisp under the fruit and slightly puffed at the edges—balances the sweet-tart, tender apples. I suspected that subbing bright, vivid rhubarb for the apples would result in a classic showbiz scenario: The understudy would outshine the established star.
For ease, I used store-bought puff pastry. After rolling the rectangle flat, I scored a narrow border around its perimeter to allow the edges to puff while the center, covered with rhubarb, would remain level.
Sign up for the Cook's Insider newsletter
The latest recipes, tips, and tricks, plus behind-the-scenes stories from the Cook's Illustrated team.
Science: Rhubarb String Theory
Rhubarb stalks are full of cells called collenchyma. Reinforced with thick walls of cellulose and pectin, these elongated cells provide strength to support the plant’s humongous leaves, but they are fibrous to eat. Thinly slicing rhubarb shortens the tough threads that run the length of the stalk. As a result, the puree for our tart is smooth, not stringy, and the rhubarb on top slices neatly with a fork.
Rhubarb can go from crisp to mushy in the blink of an eye.
That’s because its abundant water converts to steam during cooking, causing the rhubarb’s delicate structure, which is dependent on turgor pressure, to collapse. But even when softened, the ruby stalks are run through with tough, stringy fibers that are difficult to cut through with a fork.
To work around these quirks, I cut 8 ounces of rhubarb into ¼-inch slices to shorten its fibers and cooked it with sugar and touches of water and salt. The chunks quickly disintegrated, after which I continued to simmer the mixture, mashing it with my spatula into a jammy puree that I cooled while I prepared another 8 ounces of rhubarb for the top of my tarte fine.
Again, I shortened the fibers in the stalks by slicing them thin, this time on a bias to create graceful lengths. I spread the puree onto the pastry and shingled the slices decoratively on top.
Then I brushed the tart with melted butter and sprinkled it with sugar. The svelte dessert baked in just 25 minutes, the pastry turning golden brown and the rhubarb maintaining its rosy blush. A concentrated sugar syrup brushed onto the still-warm tart accentuated the precise arrangement of the slices, increasing the glamour quotient.
The tart sliced cleanly, with nary a rhubarb string in sight. The thin pastry was so crisp I could lift a slice and eat it out of hand, and its richness was ably balanced by the bright rhubarb. At last, this beauty had landed its starring role.
Rhubarb Tarte Fine
With its tart flavor and rosy hue, rhubarb commands center stage in this elegant, simply made dessert.
Get the Recipe
