Strawberry-Rhubarb Applesauce

Lennie's Note:

This is very versatile: serve it as a side dish with pork or chicken, serve over ice cream for dessert, serve at breakfast over pancakes or oatmeal, or just eat as is. You can puree to give it a traditional appearance, but I like it chunky-style and so don't puree it at all.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2.5 cups

• 2 golden delicious apples (unpeeled)
• 1 cup chopped rhubarb
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberry
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange rind
• 1/3 cup orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed)

Directions:

1. Apple peel adds colour and fibre to this dish, so I recommend you don't peel the apples; however, you can certainly do so if you wish.
2. Core apples and chop into chunks; place in a saucepan along with 1 tbsp cold water.
3. Over medium heat, cook, stirring often but not continuously, for 5 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients and turn heat up; bring to a boil.
5. Once boiling, turn heat down to a simmer and let cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until rhubarb and apples have softened.
6. Taste; you may want to add more sugar depending on the tartness of your rhubarb.
7. You can puree this in the cuisinart, but I prefer to keep it chunky.
8. Refrigerate if not serving right away.

Reviews

[flower7]

This is very tasty! I think I made my apple chunks too big though, because I ended up having to cook for about 3-4 times longer than stated for the apples to get soft. That didn't seem to affect the finished product though. I like applesauce a little chunky so I used a potato masher to break down the apples, which worked very well (everything else was pretty well pureed already from the longer cooking time). I followed the recipe ingredients to the letter (including leaving on the apple peels). Thanks so much for sharing!

[Suzanna Marie]

Very interesting twist on 'ye olde applesauce recipes. I decided to leave apple skins on as well as keeping the sauce chunky. WOW. Chunky is wonderful. I will definitely make again trying the other version (peeling apples and pureeing (sp?) the mixture). Such a nice blend of fresh fruits! Thanks Lennie.

[averybird]

Wonderful applesauce, with a great flavor and a pretty color too. I used rhubarb and strawberries from my garden in this recipe. At the end I partially pureed the applesauce with my immersion blender to the desired texture. Was planning to use this as an ingredient in Danielle Lapointe’s Calgary Stampede Rhubarb Muffins but didn't expect it to be so good! I might just have to make a second batch. Thanks, Lennie.