This is one of my favorite rhubarb recipes (apparently Queen Victoria was an afficionado of rhubarb, she even has a variety named after her). A colorful sauce which marries well with roast or grilled chicken, pork and duck, it's usually a combination of rhubarb, dried fruit (such as raisins or cherries), spices, and brown sugar. I recently developed a version using maple syrup as the sweetener, and added minced jalapeno. Variations could include other dried fruits such as apricots or prunes, and other spices like allspice, cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg. It's best served at room temperature or slightly warm, never very cold or very hot.

Without the onion and jalapeno, rhubarb addicts might even want it over vanilla ice cream!

In a saucepan combine all ingredients except the strawberries. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or so until the rhubarb is tender.

Sieve the fruit out and mix with strawberries. Return the liquid to the pan and boil down until reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Add the syrup back to fruit, and serve at room temperature with pork, grilled chicken or duck.