1 pound (about 4 cups) rhubarb, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
1/2 lemon, juiced (or about 2 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the rhubarb to a boil over medium-high heat, adding up to 1/4 cup of water if it starts to stick to the pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and cook an additional 3–5 minutes, until the rhubarb softens and breaks apart. Remove from the heat. Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the rhubarb. Let the rhubarb puree sit for about 10 minutes to cool.

Make the curd as you would when adding berries: In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the sugar, salt, egg yolks, and lemon juice. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Add the butter a piece at a time, stirring in each until it’s melted. Fold in the rhubarb puree, adding 1/4 cup at a time to keep the curd from becoming too thin; save any remaining puree for another use.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Pour the curd into two 12-ounce jars. Serve with pancakes while warm (see below), or let the curd cool to room temperature and then screw a lid on each jar before storing it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 3 cups.

Tips & Tricks

• By starting with 1 pound of rhubarb, you’ll have enough cooked-down fruit to puree with an immersion blender and not make a giant mess. It will likely give you more puree than you need to flavor the curd. So if you come up short of a full pound of stalks, just cook up what you have and use a food processor to puree.
• I can usually cook rhubarb to sauce without adding water: All it takes is freshly cut rhubarb and a heavy-bottomed pan. If your rhubarb is older and has dried out or your pan is thin, you might need a little water to keep the rhubarb from burning before it softens.
• Given my love of all things pickled, it should be no surprise that I like my rhubarb to retain its tartness. For a sweeter curd, cook an extra 1/4 cup of sugar into the rhubarb.
• If you end up with extra rhubarb puree, congratulations: You’ve just made rhubarb sauce. Stir it into yogurt or hot cereal, serve it over ice cream or cake, or just do what I did as a kid and eat it by the spoonful.

2 room-temperature eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup Fresh Yogurt or store-bought
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon ultrafine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then mix in the milk, yogurt, and butter. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the liquid ones, mixing just until the dry flour is no longer visible.

Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat, coating it with butter. Scoop the batter into the pan, about 1/4 cup at a time, and form pancakes. Let the pancakes cook 2–3 minutes, until the surface bubbles begin to pop, and then flip and continue cooking another couple of minutes. Serve immediately, or serve as a batch by placing the pancakes in a single layer on a rack in a 250°F oven as they are finished. Makes 16–20 four- to five-inch pancakes.

Tips & Tricks

• If you’re ambitious in the kitchen or have help, you can make the Rhubarb Curd and pancakes at the same time. Start by making the rhubarb puree. While it cools, mix the pancake batter. Let your helper take over the cooking of the batter while you finish making the curd. The curd and full batch of pancakes will be ready to serve around the same time.
• To use my mom’s blender technique to make thinner pancakes, blend the liquid ingredients, adding an extra 1/2 cup of milk to the batter. Combine the dry ingredients, then slowly add them to the running blender and mix just until smooth. For a double batch, use an electric mixer.
• I stick with white flour for these pancakes to keep them light and let the yogurt flavor dominate. But you can replaced a third of the flour with your choice of whole-wheat, rye, oat, or buckwheat flour without losing all of the texture.
• I love the flavor of pancakes cooked in butter, but it does tend to burn if you’re not careful with the heat. If you struggle with this, wipe the pan off between batches and add a new dab of butter.
• After years of cooking pancakes on cast iron, I switched to a nonstick pan when I was testing cookware and discovered a key technique: Don’t preheat the empty pan. Doing so can ruin your nonstick surface over time. If using cast iron, let the pan heat, add the butter, and start cooking as soon as it spreads to coat the bottom. If using nonstick, add the butter as soon as you put the pan on the burner; once it melts and shimmers, start cooking.