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Rhubarb Custard Ice Cream

I realized that there was no better time to create this recipe than when my neighbour’s daughter, who lives on a farm, handed me two and a half dozen colourful eggs that she had just gathered. Immediately I thought about turning them into omelettes with chunks of goat cheese and chives, adding them to pancakes, making a pudding… oh, yes, there seemed to be too many possibilities.

However, last year, when I wrote the rhubarb tart recipe, I already had a special ice cream recipe in mind to introduce when my rhubarb returned. So today, I finally made a custard ice cream mixture and combined it with my long awaited seasonal treat: rhubarb. As I had been itching for the rhubarb stalks to become tall enough, it was the perfect timing. There is something irresistible about this combination, which features just the right tartness combined with a sweet, creamy egginess. This ice cream will make a special dessert to share with my friend who recently invited us to her dinner party, as she is quite passionate about rhubarb!

freshly_picked_rhubarb

Rhubarb Custard Ice Cream

This recipe involves creating three elements: the rhubarb stew, the custard ice cream mixture, and the honey ginger cookies.. Churn the ice cream a few hours before serving time and freeze to achieve the best texture—this will allow each component to stand on its own instead of being totally absorbed together. It may sound like a lot to accomplish, but it’s really not. All you must do is organize your time wisely and then it’s as easy as pie!

Makes about 1 quart

Rhubarb Stew

3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the rhubarb and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat until no shape is visible. You can agitate the rhubarb pieces here and there to help dissolve. Add the lemon juice and stir.

Cool, transfer to a container and refrigerate overnight.

Custard Ice Cream Mixture

2 cups whole milk

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped

6 large egg yolks

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar

1 cup whipping cream (Avalon’s organic one is my favourite)

Bring the milk and vanilla pod with pulp to a gentle boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes to infuse the milk.

While waiting, prepare a large bowl filled with ice cubes that can hold the finished custard mixture in a small bowl. This will speed up the cooling process. Set aside a small bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl and add sugar; continue to whisk until well combined. Whilst whisking, gently add a quarter of the hot milk into the yolks. Continue to whisk, and add the rest of the milk in a steady stream. Discard the pod. Return the egg yolk mixture to the saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat and whisk continuously until thickened, for about 5 minutes. Do not over boil. Strain the mixture through a sieve into the prepared small bowl. Set the bowl on the ice cubes. Add some water to the ice bath. Stir constantly until cool.

Add the whipping cream and stir to combine, then refrigerate overnight.

Honey Ginger Cookies

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon ginger juice extracted from a piece of grated ginger

2/3 cup rolled oats, milled finely in a food processor

1 cup cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. Cream the butter in a large bowl with a beater. Add the sugar and stir well until fluffy. While beating, add the egg, honey, and ginger juice and combine well.

Switch to a spatula, add the oat and flour mixture and combine until flour is not visible. The mixture will be very soft, but no worries. Try to form it into a ball and store in a Ziploc bag; flatten to make a disk shape and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 320F. Flour the work surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin to 1/3 inch thickness, trying to form a square shape. Using a knife, cut into 2 inch squares. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

Next day, place the rhubarb container in the freezer while you churn the custard mixture according to the manufacturer’s instructions. By individually freezing custard and rhubarb before layering, it will be easy to achieve the separation between the two.

Transfer half the custard ice cream to the bottom of a large container, and dot with the half portion of semi-frozen rhubarb. You can reserve some cookies to serve on the side of the finished ice cream. Break the rest of the cookies into 1 inch pieces and stud half of them between the rhubarb and into the custard. Repeat another layer on top. Flatten the surface and freeze for a few hours before serving.

Plum Upside-Down Cakes + Grand Marnier Ice Cream

Has your long awaited dream come true recently? One of mine just did with the sweet and juicy fragrance of Japanese plums wafting all over our house and garden. The name of the plum tree “Beauty” somehow coincides as if celebrating a realization of my will. I have kept a twelve-year-old fine COOKING magazine, the September issue to be exact, that features two pastry chefs in a challenge to improvise a plum dessert using a limited number of ingredients. From there, one recipe particularly grabbed my heart so much that I was determined to plant my own plum tree(s) in a future garden and bake this recipe with the very fruits from the tree. I have baked this recipe a number of times but now that I can finally harvest my own hard-earned fruits, I can report that it was a splendor well worth waiting for! You undoubtedly have your own dreams. Let them come true by maintaining a strong will, desire and a little patience.

Plum Upside-Down Cakes

The recipe calls for smallish plums that are ripe but firm. I used my Japanese “Beauty” plums, and they worked wonderfully with their nice balance of sweetness and acidity to accompany a big dab of Grand Marnier ice cream.

Makes eight 8-oz ramekins

10 oz. (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Extra butter for greasing the ramekins

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

6 medium-size red plums, pitted and sliced 1/8 inch thick

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

6 oz. (1½ cups) cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Butter the ramekins. Heat the oven to 350F.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 6 oz. (1½ sticks) of butter with the brown sugar, whisking until smooth and combined. It’s okay if you still have sugar granules.

Immediately pour into the bottoms of the buttered ramekins, dividing evenly. Arrange a layer of plum slices in each ramekin, overlapping them slightly, using smaller slices to fill any gaps.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice. The mixture will curdle and that is okay.

In another bowl sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Cream the remaining 4 oz. (1 stick) of butter with the sugar and orange zest in a mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix to combine.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk mixture, mixing just to combine.

Divide the batter among the ramekins. Arrange the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the cakes are firm to the touch and the juices are bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the sheet midway through baking to ensure even cooking.

Let cool on a rack until warm. Run a paring knife around the inside edge of each ramekin, invert onto a plate, and gently lift it off the cake. Top each cake with a scoop of Grand Marnier ice cream (recipe below).

*If you’ve baked the cakes ahead, heat the oven to 350F, set the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and heat until just warmed, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Adapted from Karen Barker’s recipe from fine COOKING.

Grand Marnier Ice Cream

This dessert is a perfect way to chill out during hot summer afternoons. It also happens to be a perfect match for the Plum Upside-Down Cakes.

Makes about 1L

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 cups whipping cream

2 cups whole milk

¼ cup to ½ cup Grand Marnier

Beat the eggs and milk together in a large saucepan. Add sugar and cook over low heat, whisking constantly until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. This is the time to dream about your future. Instead of yesterday’s thoughts, let’s imagine and dream, not necessarily about a plum tree but whatever suits your fancy; and of course, don’t forget to keep whisking! The mixture should smoothly coat the back of a spoon.

Strain into a large bowl and cool. Then, add the cream and Grand Marnier starting from a small portion. Taste it and adjust the amount of liquor.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Churn the mixture according to the manufacturer’s instructions. You can transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and store in a freezer to encourage further solidification.

See more ice cream recipe here.

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Pecan & Oat Crumble

I learned how to make ice cream from a science show when I was in elementary school. The recipe was dead simple; mix eggs, milk, sugar and cream in a metal bowl, then stick in a pile of snow. I remember there used to be a foot high of snow outside during some Tokyo winters. My twin sister and I would snowball fight until it was dark. It is unlikely to see snow in recent years. As a matter of fact, my father said he didn’t need a winter jacket a couple winters ago… the climate is definitely changing.

Being a child, I followed the instructions of the science show religiously and experimented with making the ice cream. I even came up with a healthier alternative! I stuck mandarin oranges in a pile of snow. Of course, I don’t think I was aware of health. It was just fun to see what kind of dessert I could make by just sticking something in a pile of snow. One winter, when my family traveled to Niigata where about 9 feet of snow falls every year, I was excited! Not for skiing, but for mandarin oranges and huge piles of snow! Today my toy is not the snow pile any more. It is an ice cream maker!

In my youth, eating ice cream was reserved for a special night out once in a while but even then, I wanted to have control over ingredients and quality. After all, I always come back to my garden… Now that I have a Donvier ice cream maker (by the way, it is really like a toy due to its simple structure, which I love for the ease of maintenance!), I make my plants turn into various forms of ice cream. Thanks again to my dear friend chef Eric for his expertise and for his insistence that I purchase this particular machine rather than a fancier ice cream maker. Now I know why!

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Pecan & Oat Crumble

Makes about 1 quart

For ice cream

2 free range eggs

1 cup organic whole milk

½ cup natural cane sugar

1 cup organic whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I make my own with brandy and it works beautifully)

2 ½ cups rhubarb or more to your taste, chopped into ½ inch thick pieces

½ cup + 2 tablespoons natural cane sugar

For topping

½ cup pecans, lightly roasted

3 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup rolled oats

1 cup spelt flour

3 tablespoons natural cane sugar

A pinch of salt

Beat the eggs, milk and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Stir consistently for about 10 minutes until the liquid thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Using a strainer, pour the egg mixture into a large bowl and let cool. When the egg mixture is cool, add the cream and vanilla extract then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or over night.

Combine the rhubarb and sugar in a small pot and cook over medium heat until the rhubarb is tender. Let cool. Keep in the refrigerator for about 4 hours or over night.

Meanwhile, make the crumble. Roast the pecans lightly in a 350F oven. It only takes a couple of minutes, so keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn. Break into pieces when cool.

Combine the pecans, butter, oats, spelt flour, sugar and salt in a baking dish. Squeeze into big pieces with hands. Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Let cool. Crush into small pieces. Set aside.

Place half of the rhubarb mixture in the freezer to partially freeze so that when mixed into the ice cream mixture, rhubarb mixture keeps its shape (I like keeping rhubarb mixture in chunks. If you don’t mind making pink ice cream, churn everything together).

Churn the ice cream mixture according to manufacturer’s instructions. On half way, add the other half of rhubarb mixture from the refrigerator. When the ice cream is just about done, stir in the rhubarb mixture from the freezer. Churn very lightly to keep rhubarb’s colour and texture.

Transfer the ice cream to a separate container; cover and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, depending on your preferred hardness.

Serve with the crumble.