A dish of roasted fruit couldn’t be simpler – plums, greengages, apricots, peaches, apples, pears or rhubarb, which has a sweet and intense flavour. Try adding some freshly chopped herbs, such as rose geranium or lemon verbena to the sugar or the accompanying cream.

Prep time: 5 minutes, plus one hour macerating | Cooking time: 10-20 minutes

Roast rhubarb recipe

SERVES

Six

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg red rhubarb
• 200–250g granulated sugar
• 2-3 tsp freshly chopped herbs, such as rose geranium or lemon verbena (optional)
• Ice cream, labneh or thick Jersey cream, to serve

METHOD

1. Trim the rhubarb stalks if necessary. Slice the rhubarb into 2½cm pieces and arrange in a single layer in a 45 x 30cm non-reactive ovenproof dish.
2. Scatter the sugar over the rhubarb and leave to macerate for an hour or more, until the juices start to run.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.
4. Cover the rhubarb with a sheet of parchment paper and roast in the oven for 10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the stalks, until the rhubarb is just tender. Keep a close eye on the rhubarb, as it can disintegrate very quickly.
5. Serve the rhubarb hot or cold with ice cream, labneh or thick Jersey cream.

Recipe from One Pot Feeds All by Darina Allen (Kyle Books, £20). Order your copy from books.telegraph.co.uk