Bebop-A-Reebop

Last year we enjoyed — and used — all the rhubarb we got from the CSA. And since my understanding of rhubarb begins and ends with strawberry-rhubarb pie, that meant we had many strawberry-rhubarb pies. We got backlogged with rhubarb, and eventually we froze the filling. Several large ziplocs of filling. Many, many pies’ worth of filling. It’s all still in the freezer, actually. Which is why I was a little discouraged to see four lovely stalks of 2015 rhubarb in the CSA share this past week.

Since we also got three quarts of strawberries, it seemed sort of obvious to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie. We didn’t do that. Instead, I remembered — or thought I remembered — seeing a cocktail recipe of some sort in one of the books that used a rhubarb syrup. I found this recipe for rhubarb simple syrup. This is a good way to use rhubarb. It almost — almost — makes me want to get more rhubarb.

In part this is because this Rhubarb Gimlet cocktail is really good: two parts gin, two parts rhubarb syrup, one part lime juice. I was hesitant to use that much sugar in a cocktail, but it actually tastes really good.