I love flavor combinations that rely on the vagaries of nature for their growing seasons to overlap. Undependable and fleeting, they're like the friend who you can never count on to show up but who always charms you when he does. You find them in asparagus and zucchini, lemon verbena and blueberries and at this time of year, rhubarb and blood orange. <br /> <br />It was around the time we decided to run a blood orange theme on the site that Rose Gray, the chef with Ruth Rogers of the River Cafe in London, died. And I was reminded of one of my favorite recipes from Gray and Rogers's books, a simple dessert of roasted rhubarb and blood orange glazed with vanilla bean seeds, sugar, and some of the fruits' own juices. Blood oranges and rhubarb also always seemed emblematic of Gray and Rogers's cooking style -- the brave flavors, the generosity, and a lusty palette not often seen on London's gray canvas.

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