Rhubarb

Grace Parisi'’s strawberry rhubarb pie recipe is classic and perfectly tart-sweet. The dough can be made with just butter, but swapping in some lard yields an even flakier crust. As for the filling, she has experimented with several thickeners, but cornstarch is her favorite for juicy fruit pies.

Rollie Wesen's secret for making a crisp topping is to sprinkle it lightly over the fruit in a thick, even layer without packing the crumbs together. He is super-generous with the topping because he loves how it complements the tangy filling.

Strudel is a classic Austrian pastry made by wrapping layers of paper-thin dough around a variety of fillings. This simplified version, made with store-bought phyllo dough, features a cheesecake-like mixture and tangy rhubarb compote. A crème anglaise served alongside makes it extra-decadent.

“I like to karate-chop diners with something different at the end of the meal,” Michael Solomonov says. He does that with this cool dessert of rose-scented rhubarb and honeydew melon granita topped with creamy lebneh (a soft, yogurt-like fresh cheese) and crunchy candied pistachios.

"I am obsessed with the chèvre from Texas's Pure Luck Farm," says Laura Sawicki. "I love how well it pairs with the cooked rhubarb in my cheesecakes."

This easy, homey dessert from Andrew Zimmern pairs the quintessential early-summer combo of sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb with a nutty, buttery, cookie-like topping.

The amaro in this unusual sparkling cocktail gives it a pleasing hint of bitterness.

This silky fruit dessert is delicious on its own or topped with vanilla ice cream. Just be sure to only barely cook the rhubarb, so that it retains its crispness—and plenty of tangy flavor.

This vanilla-flecked rice pudding is exceptionally easy and exceptionally delicious, thanks to the tangy rhubarb. Krista Desjarlais gently poaches the stalks in red wine, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Perfect on the pudding, the rhubarb would be equally good with Greek yogurt.

This dessert is irresistibly tangy, creamy and frothy.

This cocktail reminds Mike Ryan of the strawberry-rhubarb pies his mother made every spring. He roasts the rhubarb for the drink's syrup to caramelize the edges of the stalks and to accentuate their subtle, earthy bitterness. The syrup can be mixed with club soda for a pretty, nonalcoholic drink.

In early summer when it's in season, lean, wild Alaskan Copper River salmon is Rocco DiSpirito's favorite fish. But any wild salmon would be delicious for this complexly flavored main course. Bulb onions—immature onions harvested early in the season—are available in the produce department of some supermarkets and most specialty food stores.

A crostata is the kind of free-form tart that looks best when completely rustic—the more uneven folds of flaky, golden pastry and bubbling fruit juices, the better. This Easter stunner stars fresh rhubarb that’s combined with rhubarb compote and studded with candied ginger. The crust comes together quickly and will hold well during a lazy Easter brunch.