Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote: The Versatile Sweet-Tart Spring Fruit Sauce

[Photographs: Vicky Wasik]

The classic springtime combination of strawberries and rhubarb is perfect for people like me who don't have a huge sweet tooth. It's also perfect for people who do. Rhubarb—technically a vegetable, but used more often in fruit contexts, like pie fillings—is purely tart, with almost no trace of sweetness. Strawberries help push it more decisively into ripe-fruit territory, but you still need extra sugar to balance rhubarb's intense sourness. And that's what's so great about it: Add as much or as little sugar as you like to suit your taste.

One of my favorite ways to prepare strawberries and rhubarb is stewed into a compote. It's fast, versatile, and totally customizable. I make mine just sweet enough that I can serve it as a dessert, but not so sweet that it'd seem junky to eat it as breakfast, too. In both cases, that often means spooned on top of a bowl of yogurt, but it'd be just as happy alongside fresh ricotta or mascarpone, panna cotta, cake, waffles, pancakes, crepes, scones, toast, or, if you're feeling extra British, crumpets.

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For an interesting flavor twist, I add a small amount of ground fennel seed, which is just as successful at carefully walking the sweet-savory razor's edge—it's not a warm spice like cinnamon or nutmeg, but it still has anise notes that work with all sorts of desserts. Pull back on the sugar just a little more and you could totally eat this with a pork chop.

To start, I dice the rhubarb into chunks, then put it on the heat in a saucepan with a small amount of water, which generates enough steam to get the cooking started. In a preparation like this, I like my rhubarb fully softened and broken down, so I let it cook for a few minutes this way, covered, before adding the strawberries.

Then I add the strawberries, which I cook until they're very soft and plump, adding a burst of brilliant color. I add the fennel and sugar as well, usually spooning in the sugar to taste until I feel like I've hit my desired sweetness—whether that's sweet enough for pork or sweet enough for an ice cream sundae.

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