Accidental Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

Yes, this was one big delicious foodie mistake, I am happy to admit! Sometimes following the foodie energy will take you to even better places than a recipe promises.

I wanted to make Chef Lindsay Cameron Wilson‘s recipe for Rhubarb Eton Mess for the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s Chef Pantry Challenge. But I ran into a snag! So this is what I did instead.

The Recipe

I cut up 3 stalks of rhubarb into 1″ pieces. I added the juice of 2 oranges which made 1/2 cup (add water if you need to) and the zest.

I also wanted to make a strawberry sauce to go with the “mess” which I thought was clever. So glad I did! 

In a medium sauce pan I added 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of frozen strawberries and 1/2 cup of water.

I brought it to a boil, reduced heat to medium, covered and simmered until the strawberries were soft.

To the rhubarb I added 1/4 cup of honey and brought to a simmer over medium heat. I stirred everything off and on to help the honey dissolve. I covered the pan, reduced heat to medium low. Simmered gently until rhubarb was very soft, around 10 minutes. Then, because I have issues about texture, I got out my immersion blender and pureed the softened rhubarb.

I took a potato masher to the strawberries because they were so big. Then I pureed them too and put the syrup through a strainer.

The Foodie Issue

See, this recipe calls for meringues. They add an addition crunch to the mess to create kind of a parfait. I loathe store-bought meringues and thought that after I made the rhubarb mess, one day soon the dark heavy clouds and rain would eventually disappear and I could make meringues.

Nope. Five days went by. Total darkness and tons of humidity. What the hell was I going to do? Absolutely the worst condition to make meringues.

I did not want this to go to waste but it had been sitting in my fridge for days. The answer? Ice cream of course! Isn’t it always ice cream?

Making Ice Cream

I mean why not? I already had a syrup, some fruit puree for flavour… All I really needed was 1 and 3/4 cups of heavy cream whisked in and I was ready to churn. Remember, everything has to be really cold at this stage: food and ice cream maker.

This actually made enough liquid to make two batch of ice cream. You do not want to over fill the ice cream maker. It churns to add air so always fill it halfway at the most, especially when you are working with heavy cream because it increases in volume so much.

I took ones taste… OMG! Like I was eating a creamy frozen strawberry rhubarb pie!!!

I filled up one clean yogurt container and put it in the freezer and moved on to my second batch.

I have to say… Amazing. Probably the best recipe I have accidentally come up in a long, long time. Tastes so fresh and truly has the essence of strawberries and rhubarb, one of the best combinations of all time. This is one hell of a winner of a recipe and I have the crappy Nova Scotia weather to thank for it, as well as Chef Lindsay Cameron Wilson of course.

What a happy foodie accident.