Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream

I participated in a recipe contest in May sponsored by Canada Lentils called Love Your Lentils and was pretty thrilled to learn that I came in second place. Congrats to the winner, Davine, with her Canadiana Baked Beans and to all of the bloggers who made it to the top ten.



 My prize was a $500 gift certificate to Amazon.ca and man, did I shred that gift certificate like a boss. For days I shopped, put stuff in my basket and then took it all back out and started again. I even had a $500 camera lens in there at one point but my fellow Gastroposter, Libby Roach, encouraged me to get lots of smaller stuff because it would be way more fun to get a big box of treats than one little lens and she was right. When I opened that box I almost peed my pants. I don't know what I love the most yet. I finally got my Zojirushi rice cooker which I have been coveting for decades but am too cheap to actually pay for and threw in a $$ Zojirushi bento lunch contraption for The Kid since he is starting high school in September and will no longer have a microwave, kettle and toaster oven in his classroom anymore. As much as I love that stuff, I also got the ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer AND the paddle with the flex edge thingy. Oh and a digital scale at last as well as a whack of books on ice cream making and food styling/photography.

CHRISTMAS IN JUNE BITCHES!
sorry, binge watching Breaking Bad this week


Nevertheless, I decided that my first cook should probably not be meth and decided on ice cream instead. That was the easy part because that decision was followed by days of agonizing "what kind of ice cream??"

Up until now, I have been making different versions of a no churn ice cream made with lots of whipping cream and condensed milk. I can't wait to reinterpret my cherry chocolate almond or my  key lime pie ice cream asap. I seem to have a thing for making ice cream out of my favourite pies, don't I?

The Kid wanted to make green tea ice cream that requires matcha but I am out of it and as I always say, I am also kind of lazy. Shack wanted plain old strawberry but that felt too boring for my inaugural batch. This one is too hot, this one is too cold, yadda, yadda, yadda. After a trip to the liquor store, I opened the new LCBO Food and Drink and there it was....

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream.

As fate would have it, I had just roasted off a bunch of mildly stolen rhubarb the day before and I had a freezer full of berries. I wasn't really interested in making the pie crust to add in - It just seems to me that it might get kind of soggy in there and would defeat the purpose of what crust is all about. Graham crackers made more sense to me and I have been looking for an excuse to try to make homemade graham crackers anyway. I used this recipe from Martha Stewart and the only change I made was to cut them into little rounds instead of the more typical rectangle with holes punched in them. I wanted to make them cute and small so that I could serve each serving with a cracker. To be honest, I settled on this recipe because it didn't require actual graham flour, which I didn't have and it used wheat germ with a mix of AP and whole wheat flour instead, all things I DID have. Remember, I'm kind of lazy. It all worked out because the little graham crackers were super tasty and perfect for what I want to use them for. It really did taste like a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie with a graham cracker crust and a big dollop of whipped cream. Okay, maybe it tastes more like a bowl of whipped cream with a scoop of pie in there.

Remember LOVE YOUR LENTILS!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream

serves 6

1 1/2 cups frozen , chopped strawberries, thawed out
3/4 cup sugar, divided
3/4 lb chopped rhubarb (add 1 tbls water if you don't roast it)
2 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1 recipe graham crackers OR approx 1 cup roughly crushed up store bought graham crackers

Earlier in the day or the day before, I roasted the rhubarb in a 350F oven. I tossed the rhubarb with about 4 tbls sugar and spread it out on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I roasted that for about 20 minutes until soft. If you don't want to do that, you can put the rhubarb and sugar in a saucepan with 1 tbls of water and cook over medium heat for about 10 to 12 minutes until it's soft.
Either way, mix the cooked rhubarb with the strawberries and put the in fridge until chilled, at least 2 hours.
In large, heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.
Heat the cream in a medium pot until bubbles just start to break on the surface and it is starting to steam over medium heat. Slowly start to whisk the hot cream into the egg mixture - whisk constantly until it's all incorporated. Return this mixture to the pot and heat it over med-low heat. Stir until it thickens and can coat the back of a spoon. At that point , pour it into a bowl through a fine strainer, cover and refrigerate until nice and cold, at least 2 hours or more. It's a good idea to place the bowl of hot custard on some ice to cool it down quickly before putting it into the fridge.

When it's time to make it, follow your ice cream maker's instructions. The recipe in the magazine says to mix the berries/rhubarb into the cream right off the hop but that is not now most ice cream makers work so if you get the magazine, ignore that. You process the cold cream/egg custard and add the berries/rhubarb and the graham cracker about 2 minutes before the ice cream is finished,. When it's done, put the ice cream into a freezer container and freeze until firm.

For the kitchen aid attachment, that means processing the creamy custard for about 20 minutes and then putting the fruit and graham crackers in at the 18 minute mark. If you have a different ice cream maker, just do what your manual says.

Serve with a graham cracker if you want to be fancy pants.