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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Saturday, May 03, 2008

Reader Exchange: Fresh ideas for rhubarb, vegetable lasagna

By Alice P. Clark, La Crosse Tribune

Hunting is largely a seasonal thing: Easter egg hunts are finished for the year, deer hunting isn’t until November, and I think I heard turkey hunters are giving it another go right about now.

But the hunt for the perfect (aka Winona Fish Shoppe) tartar sauce knows no season, and we are still in the thick of it.

E. Johnson found that Moses (someone also called it “Moss’s) Fish Shop Tartar Sauce, reputed to be the actual recipe as close as it gets, was not to be found at Festival Foods in La Crosse or Onalaska, Wis. Perhaps our anonymous informant was confused.

I would suggest calling various area grocers to find out if one of them carries it. In the meantime, Margaret Berg of Sparta, Wis., has shared both a quick and a cooked version of that popular condiment for us to try.

Norma Piper of West Salem, Wis., wrote to thank us for the bread pudding recipes, saying, “Now I will reciprocate and send a good old-fashioned rhubarb torte recipe.” Peggy Bernett of La Crosse also weighed in on the topic of rhubarb, sending a rhubarb crunch recipe that she describes as “Delish!”

Pat Hunter of La Crosse shared some bread pudding recipes with us, one of which is a “ready in 15 minutes or less” breakfast bread pudding. She has “collected for years and reads cookbooks when nothing else of interest” is around.

Sounds like me. But I love browsing through cookbooks even if there is something better to do. My mother was the same way with quilting books and patterns. Only she did more than browse, to the delight of everyone in the family. I do more than browse, too, but I remember a time or two when those on the receiving end of my efforts were less than delighted.

An anonymous friend also sent some recipes for vegetable lasagna, one of which “was a winner in a La Crosse Tribune cooking contest,” but the year of the contest is anyone’s guess. We have supplied Jody and Randy Clark of La Crosse with a nice variety of vegetable lasagna recipes, but even though I have my windows open these days, I haven’t been led by my olfactory sense to their kitchen door at mealtime. Maybe they’ve been busy with other things ...

While we have had a couple of fried fish recipes for Rebecca Pruss, I’m guessing she would welcome a few more. Her

second request was for “healthy” rhubarb recipes, but Diane Dippel isn’t sure there really is such a thing. The rhubarb seems to be coming along nicely, and before long many of us will be glad to

have some new ideas for using it up.

Because responses to recent requests have been tremendous and we’ll be working our way through as many of those recipes as we can in the next few weeks, I’m going to hold off on new requests for a while. So for now, take a break. Enjoy the warm. Drag the chaise out on the patio and enjoy a cold beverage.

Take a radio outside with you and tune in to Coulee Region Cooks, which airs from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursdays on WIZM-AM radio. Mike Hayes and his guests share recipes and tips and are always informative and entertaining.

When he can catch me at my desk, Mike and I spend a few minutes during the first half of the show chatting about the upcoming Exchange.

Send requests, recipes and/or cooking tips and

techniques to Alice P. Clark at: Reader Exchange, c/o

La Crosse Tribune, 401 N. Third St., La Crosse, WI 54601; e-mail: exchange@lacrossetribune.com or send a fax to (608) 782-9723.

Quick Tartar Sauce

3/4 cup mayonnaise or sour cream

2 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons chopped pickles

1 tablespoon chives or grated onion

1/4 cup chopped olives

1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Combine all ingredients; refrigerate until serving time. Note from Alice: I often use both mayonnaise and sour cream and find that the low-fat or fat-free varieties work fine. Pat the chopped pickles and olives (I use green) dry with paper toweling, so the sauce doesn’t get soupy.

(Shared by Margaret Berg, Sparta)

Cooked Tartar Sauce

1/3 cup flour

1 cup stock

2 egg yolks

1 cup salad oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon mustard

1 cup pickle relish (to taste)

Salt to taste

Place flour in saucepan; heat over medium heat, adding stock (vegetable or chicken) about a quarter cup at a time, stirring with a wire whisk to keep sauce smooth. Slowly beat in 2 beaten egg yolks, salad oil vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, pickle relish and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and just comes to a boil (reduce heat if necessary to prevent scorching). Chill.

(Shared by Margaret Berg, Sparta)

Rhubarb Torte

Crust:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) soft margarine

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:

6 egg yolks, (save whites for meringue)

4 tablespoons flour

1 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sugar

8 cups diced rhubarb

Meringue:

6 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine margarine, flour and 1 tablespoon sugar; press into a greased or sprayed 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes; cool. Beat egg yolks; combine with 4 tablespoons flour, milk, 2 cups sugar and rhubarb. Pour over the cooled crust and bake 1 hour. Beat egg whites until foamy; gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Add vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Spread over baked rhubarb; bake 10 to 20 minutes longer, until golden.

Shared by Norma Piper, West Salem

Rhubarb Crunch

Crust:

1 cup flour

5 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Filling::

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten until fluffy

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

4 cups rhubarb, sliced

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1 cup flour, confectioners’ sugar and butter; pat into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake 10 minutes. Combine 1/4 cup flour, beaten eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt and rhubarb. Pour over crust. Bake 30 minutes.

(Shared by Peggy Bernett, La Crosse)

Breakfast Bread Pudding

For each person:

1 slice bread, cut in 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup peeled and diced tart apple

1 tablespoon raisins

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/4 cup egg substitute

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon apple pie spice

Put bread, apple and raisins in a bowl; whisk milk, egg substitute, vanilla, sugar and apple pie spice in a separate bowl and pour over bread mixture. Microwave on high 3 minutes or until mixture puffs and bubbles around edges.

(Shared by Pat Hunter, La Crosse)

Award-Winning Vegetarian Lasagna

6 lasagna noodles

2 (10-ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach,

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1/2 cup sliced black olives

1 1/2 teaspoons oregano

1 tablespoon margarine

16 ounces cottage cheese

16 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (slices)

Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Cook noodles; drain and set aside. Cook spinach; drain. Cook carrots, onion and mushrooms in hot oil until tender but not brown. Stir in tomato sauce and paste, olives and oregano. Grease with margarine or spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. In pan, layer 3 noodles, half of the cottage cheese, one-third of the Monterey Jack slices, tomato sauce mixture; repeat. Top with any remaining cheese slices. Bake 30 to 40 minutes; let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle individual servings with Parmesan cheese to taste.

(Shared by an anonymous friend)