This ice cream’s strawberry and rhubarb flavouring makes it the ultimate early summer sweet treat.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
Strawberries and rhubarb are the ultimate early summer supercouple, received with excitement at parties, featured on restaurant menus and posted all over social media. What grows together goes together, so they say.
Rhubarb’s bright tartness is generally compensated for with sugar, meaning the vegetable is treated as a fruit in the kitchen. (The term fruit has both botanical and culinary meanings.)
Beyond pie, rhubarb can also be chopped and tossed into a pot with sugar to cook down into a compote. This is an excellent way to deal with large quantities of the vegetable, and the saucy rhubarb is perfect for freezing or keeping in the fridge to spoon over yogurt or ice cream. Rhubarb has a refreshing tang that pairs well with creamy textures and flavours, so why not combine the two, and turn it into ice cream or frozen yogurt?
Manitoba’s delicious blue licorice ice cream is a scoop of nostalgia
Stewing your rhubarb first is fine – you could add spoonfuls of compote to any base ice cream recipe – but roasting the stalks caramelizes their edges, condensing and intensifying the flavour. Cooking it in the oven at higher temperatures with sugar and less moisture encourages the pieces to better hold their shape, so some of the rhubarb blends in completely, but you still get those little bits of jammy fruit.
If roasting anything sounds terrifying during the heat of summer, you can use an air fryer (which is just a tiny convection oven) to avoid heating up the house. There’s also no need for an ice cream maker if you don’t have one. You can freeze this recipe in a shallow container, stirring now and then to break up the ice crystals.
Roasted Rhubarb (or Strawberry Rhubarb) Ice Cream
Give yourself some time to let the fruit cool completely before making your ice cream. For frozen yogurt, use about 2 1/2 cups of your favourite yogurt in place of the cream and milk, sweetened to taste if it’s plain. Higher-fat yogurts will be creamier than the low-fat and fat-free varieties.
- Around 3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb and/or strawberries (any ratio)
- 3/4 cup sugar, divided (or to taste)
- Juice of half a lemon, about a tablespoon
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream or 1 can coconut milk
- 1 cup of any of the following: half-and-half, 2-per-cent or whole milk, oat or nut milk
If you’re using an ice cream machine, make sure the insert is frozen. If you are using your oven to roast, preheat it to 425 F.
Trim the berries, chop the rhubarb and spread them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you’re using an air fryer, line the basket or tray with parchment and spread out half of the fruit at a time, without crowding it too much. This will depend on the size and shape of your air fryer.
Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of sugar, or to taste (if you’re dividing your fruit to cook, divide this too), drizzle the lemon juice on top, and roast for 12 to 20 minutes in the oven, or at 400 F in your air fryer. When done, the rhubarb and strawberries should be soft, syrupy and turning golden on the edges. Set aside to cool completely and, if you have time, refrigerate until well-chilled.
Combine the remaining sugar with the whipping cream/coconut milk and add in the half-and-half or milk. (Any combination will do; the cream or coconut milk just needs to be lightened a bit.) Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and turn it on. When it starts to get thick and partially frozen, scrape in the roasted fruit, along with any syrupy juices that have collected on the parchment. Keep the machine going until the mixture resembles soft ice cream, then transfer to a bowl or container and chill in the freezer until firm.
If you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour the sweetened cream into a loaf pan or other flat-ish container (this will help it freeze faster and make it easier to stir), or even a larger container you can shake. Place it in the freezer and stir regularly – every half-hour or so – as the ice cream freezes, which will break up the ice crystals and make it creamier. Once it’s partially frozen, stir in the cooled fruit and continue until you can no longer stir, then freeze until firm.
Makes about one litre.
