Blueberry Rhubarb Compote
People will probably have a number of complaints about this post. For example, you may be thinking, “Meg, you just made a Blueberry Rhubarb Galette. You can’t repeat flavor combinations so quickly.” If you have that complaint, you obviously aren’t in Alaska right now.
When I arrived in Alaska last week, Erik had acquired, no joke, an entire trash bag full of rhubarb, cut out of a friend’s yard:
And then, while I was there, another friend, Nate, brought over a full Tupperware of blueberries he had picked himself along a trail somewhere. When you have access to rhubarb and blueberries harvested by people you know, you don’t not take them.
Plus, after remaking the galette for Erik’s birthday, I had barely made a dent in our fresh fruit supply, so compote seemed like a good way to make something that would last for a long time.
Your second complaint may be that compote is almost too easy to make. And you’re not wrong. Yes, I had over a week of vacation, and maybe I could have used it to work on something a bit more complex. But sometimes, all you (or Erik) wants is some fruit sauce to spoon over ice cream (or yogurt). Plus, with fruit this fresh, you really do want to give it some room to speak for itself.
This recipe is infinitely adaptable to any fruit you may want, and I intend to use it repeatedly as different things are in season. Basically, you just need 4 cups of fruit and 3/4 cup of sugar, and you’re good to go.
Start by combining the fruit and sugar in a medium saucepan and tossing the fruit to coat.
Heat the mixture over low heat until the sugar melts, stirring frequently.
Then, put the lid on and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft and mushy, but still kind of holding its shape together. With rhubarb and blueberries, it’s the rhubarb you’re looking at here – the blueberries will be mush long before the rhubarb.
When sufficiently mushy, pull out the fruit as much as possible with a slotted spoon and transfer to a storage dish.
Keep cooking the syrup in the pan over low heat for another 5 minutes to thicken.
our the thickened syrup over the fruit in the storage jar and allow to cool to room temperature before covering and chilling in the refrigerator, where it will keep for about a week.
If you don’t think you can eat a jar of compote in a week, this also freezes really well, so feel free to make as much as you want, based on your fruit availability.
Spoon this over some vanilla ice cream (store-bought or homemade), and you’ve got an incredibly easy late summer dessert.
Enjoy!
Blueberry Rhubarb Compote
Ingredients:
- 3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1 cup blueberries
- 3/4 cup sugar
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, toss together rhubarb, blueberries and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until sugar melts.
- Cover pot and continue to cook over low heat until rhubarb is soft and just falling apart, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove fruit from mixture and place in storage container. Continue cooking syrup over low heat in saucepan to thicken for another 5 minutes.
- Pour syrup over fruit and stir to combine. Allow to cool to room temperature before covering and chilling in the refrigerator.
