Rhubarb Chutney with a few tips

Sometimes Rachael Ray uses these fancy terms so you feel cool when you make them. I will not, however be making this one. A chutney is just "a sauce or relish of East Indian origin, often compounded of both sweet and sour ingredients, as fruits and herbs, with spices and other seasoning."

Rache used rhubarb, golden raisins, sugar, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and butter. I'd never seen rhubarb before. It looks scary. Its a bright red stalk with a white center. She diced it and put it in a pot with the other ingredients to make her relish, excuse me, chutney.

When you go to fancy restaurants and you see mango chutney on the menu, now you know what it is. Don't be afraid, but you may want to steer clear of the rhubarb. It looks scary. And my dad says it tastes disgusting no matter how you cook it. I know as a writer on a food blog I should be encouraging you to try new things, but Rache always says you eat with your eyes and nose first which is so true. That means you will not see me eating rhubarb, the aforementioned corned beef hash, or chitlins unless I'm just feeling really crazy one day. Or if Rachael Ray wants to hang out. I'll try anything she cooks for me first hand.

**Two tips from the same show:

1) If you're cooking for someone who doesn't like garlic pieces, but likes the flavor of garlic, here's what you can do. If you're making a salad, rub a clove of garlic along the inside of the bowl. When you toss the salad, it will have the essence of garlic without having large pieces. Also if you're sauteeing (lightly pan frying with butter and/or olive oil) vegetables or making a light sauce, you can put whole garlic cloves in the olive oil to cook up first, then add the rest of your ingredients. Garlic flavor will be infused in the sauce. For quick garlic bread, (I tried this one this morning), rub a whole garlic clove all over the slice of toast, then add softened butter (in the microwave for 15 seconds so you soften, not melt it). Its so yum-o, to quote Rache.

2) When cooking meat, let it sit out for about 5 minutes to knock the chill off a little bit so the meat doesn't get shocked when you put it on the hot grill. The same is true for baking, except you can let the ingredients (eggs, butter, milk/cream) sit out a little longer. Everything will be lighter and fluffier if you let your cold ingredients come to room temperature.