Serves 4

Serve the rhubarb hot or cold with clotted cream, Greek yoghurt or custard, with the syrupy juices drizzled over. You could also try it with meringues and whipped cream, pancakes, and to accompany rich desserts such as cheesecake and crème brûlée.

500g forced rhubarb, trimmed

Butter, for greasing

75g light soft brown sugar

1 lemon

1 vanilla pod, split

Handful of lemon thyme sprigs

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Wash the rhubarb if necessary and chop into pieces (cut into 10cm lengths if you want to use it for the millefeuille recipe below). Put them in a lightly buttered ovenproof dish or roasting tin and sprinkle over the sugar. Add a few strips of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice and toss together.

2 Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add them to the rhubarb, together with the pod and lemon thyme. Cover tightly with foil and roast for 15-20 minutes until the rhubarb is tender. (Remove from the oven now if using the rhubarb for the millefeuille recipe.) Uncover and roast for another 5-10 minutes to reduce the juices until syrupy.

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