Strawberry Rose Rhubarb Ribbon Ice cream

Strawberry rose rhubarb ribbon ice cream: sweet, tart, creamy and perfect for spring.

It has been too long since we've made ice cream in this house. You know a great way to change that? Make a recipe for the blog to put on the task list that involves making ice cream. And when I say "we" in reference to making ice cream, I actually mean Chris (he's the head ice cream chef). It's been too long since Chris has made ice cream for me to consume (you know because we are essentially rebuilding our house from the inside out...we're not busy at all). 

I definitely have my favorite Chris flavors of ice cream (cookies and cream, corn...), but part of the deal with recipe development is making new things. And since we try to be seasonally conscious, there's nothing more beautiful in May than strawberries and rhubarb and roses. 

Rhurbarb in Virginia markets is a bit elusive. One week we'll see it, the next week it will be gone. And hardly ever is said rhubarb RED. On this one random trip, there it was: the red rhubarb. So I bought nearly all of it and we started the ice cream process.

Chris uses the same base ice cream every time he makes it with a few minor adjustments based on the new flavor. The base is creamy with a touch of salt (that's why I LOVE it). It is not ice-y. It is not crumbly. It's gorgeous. To add in a new flavor, in this case strawberry, rhubarb and rose (and actually blood orange too), we made a sauce to stir in for a ribbon effect. This separates the creamy vanilla base with the sweet and tart rhubarb ribbon. It also looks super cute. So there's that.

The alternative to this recipe is to make the rhubarb sauce and pour it over top of your favorite vanilla ice cream. That's a hell of a shortcut, but if you don't have an ice cream maker, that's what I would recommend. And we can tell you from experience, an extra drizzle of the rhubarb sauce over top of this ice cream is amazing. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Rose Ribbon Ice Cream

makes approximately 1 quart

/// Ingredients ///

ice cream base (adapted from Simply Recipes)

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of table salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

rhubarb ribbon sauce:

• 3/4 cup chopped small strawberries
• 4 large stalks rhubarb (red vs green), chopped into 1 inch segments
• zest and juice of 1 blood orange
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

/// Directions ///

Add blood orange juice, zest and sugar to a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine and dissolve sugar. Add rhubarb and strawberries to the same pan and bring to a boil.  mash and cover with a lid. reduce heat to low for 5-10 minutes or until the rhubarb is very soft and mashable. 

Remove from heat and strain into a heat safe container. Straining is not required- you could puree for an even consistency instead, however for an fiber-less finish, strain through a fine mesh sieve. Yield at this stage is 1 1/4 cups. Put back in pan on heat and bring to a boil, then lower heat. Reduce until yield is 1 cup. Pour into heatproof container with a spout (helpful later), stir in rose water and allow to cool on the counter.

To make ice cream base heat whole milk, sugar and salt in a medium pan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is steaming. 

In a separate bowl in an ice bath, add heavy cream to a large bowl and set aside for later. 

In a third container, whisk egg yolks together and slowly add the heated milk from the stove to temper the eggs. If you add this to the eggs too quickly, they will not be smooth. Add the egg yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan on medium heat until the mixture can coat the back of a spoon (stir often).

Pour the milk and egg custard mix through a fine mesh sieve into the heavy cream bowl and whisk. Place the mixture into the fridge and wait to chill completely before attempting to make ice cream. Use your machine's instructions to churn.

As ice cream base churns and is nearly complete, quickly pour in rhubarb sauce.  Allow to churn a few more times and turn off machine. A red/pink ribbon should run through the ice cream and should not turn the ice cream completely pink. Freeze until firm and scoopable. Top with extra rhubarb sauce if desired.