Here's the process for making this delectable rhubarb crisp. Don't serve straight out of the oven, because it won't have thickened and it could even be dangerously hot.
Take the weight of the prepared rhubarb, in this case 44 ounces, then add 5.5% tapioca starch and 25% percent sugar (this math is all much easier if you work in metric units, by the way). The numbers in my recipe are rounded for convenience, but the percentages are handy to know if you'd like to scale a batch up or down depending on your farmers' market haul. If you're not a purist, up to a third of the rhubarb can be replaced with strawberries. Leave the little ones whole, but cut larger berries in half, or in quarters if they're huge.
Now, here's where things differ from my method for pie. Instead of tossing everything together, topping it with streusel, and baking it all at once, the unique format of a crisp allows me to bake the fruit in stages. I start by combining half of the rhubarb with the sugar and starch, plus two ounces of elderflower liqueur, such as St-Germain. If you don't have any on hand, you can use water or an extra two ounces of fruit (rhubarb is about 90% water), but the delicate, floral aroma of elderflower goes a long way when it comes to opening up the subtleties of rhubarb.
Transfer the mixture to a 7- by 11-inch baking dish (a deep dish 9-inch pie pan will work as well, but I prefer the rectangular shape to maximize surface area for the streusel later on). Cover the dish tightly in foil and bake it until juicy. This takes about 30 minutes in a 400°F oven, although the time can vary quite a bit depending on the dimensions and material of your baking dish, so check on the fruit a little early if you're using a metal dish.
Once the rhubarb has given up its juices, pull it from the oven and stir in a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with a heat resistant spatula. It's not enough to fully neutralize the rhubarb's acidity, but it certainly takes off the sharper edges—a particularly helpful trick when working with hothouse rhubarb, which can taste especially sour. Spinach-teeth be gone!
Keep stirring until the fizz dies down to ensure no pockets of baking soda remain unactivated, then pour the syrupy rhubarb over the remaining fruit—whether it's 100% rhubarb or a mix with strawberries too. Fold gently to combine, then return to the baking dish.
Baking in stages produces a variety of textures in the finished crisp, with creamy pieces of rhubarb melting into a gooey filling alongside big chunks of firmer fruit. Top it off with the prepared streusel, smashing each handful into a thin sheet.
Now, just place the crisp into the oven and bake for at least 30 minutes, or until it's so hot it's bubbling even in the middle. After it's done, allow it to cool for at least half an hour before serving, and then serve plain or with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream. Yum!
Article Source: Serious Eats
http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/04/how-to-make-rhubarb-crisp.html
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