Strawberry Rhubarb Napoleons With Creme Fraiche Ice Cream Recipes

RHUBARB AND STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Place rhubarb, 1/2 cup sugar, and the water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low; let simmer, stirring frequently, until rhubarb is very tender and beginning to fall apart, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat; transfer to a bowl; set aside.
• Place strawberries in the bowl of a food processor; puree. Strain through a fine sieve or chinois into a bowl; set aside.
• Scald cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not let boil. Remove from heat, add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
• In a medium bowl, combine cooked rhubarb, strawberry puree, cream mixture, and kirsch. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

STRAWBERRY NAPOLEONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle work surface with some of granulated sugar. Unfold dough on top and sprinkle with more granulated sugar. If necessary, roll out to a 9 1/2-by-12 1/2-inch rectangle, slightly more than 1/8 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pastry cutter, cut into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. Transfer to a baking sheet; freeze 20 minutes. Cut into twelve 4-by-2 1/4-inch rectangles. Transfer to two baking sheets and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Prick rectangles all over with a fork. Coat two wire racks with cooking spray and place one over each set of rectangles (if you only have one cooling rack, work in batches). Bake until pastry just reaches tops of racks, about 15 minutes (do not let it bake into racks and stick). Remove racks; continue to bake until golden and evenly browned, about 15 minutes more. Let cool completely on racks, about 30 minutes.
• With a mixer, whisk cream, creme fraiche, vanilla seeds, and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip (such as Ateco #825). Split pastry rectangles horizontally (to create 24 pieces total). Choose 8 nice tops; set aside. Arrange a single layer of strawberries over 8 bottom rectangles. Pipe about 2 tablespoons cream over berries. Top with a second layer of berries. Pipe 2 tablespoons cream onto 8 more rectangles. Top with a layer of strawberries. Pipe a dollop of cream onto bottom and place on top of first layer, pressing very gently to help stick. Pipe a dollop of cream on bottom of reserved rectangles and place on top, sugared-sides up. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB NAPOLEONS

Steps:

• Make filling:
• In a heavy saucepan combine all filling ingredients except strawberries and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes, or until rhubarb is soft and falling apart. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cool completely. Hull strawberries and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (there will be about 2 cups). Add strawberries to rhubarb mixture, tossing to combine well. Filling may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring filling to room temperature before assembling napoleons.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• On a lightly floured surface roll pastry into a 14- by 10-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Cut pastry into 4 strips, each 14 by 2 1/2 inches. Working with 1 pastry strip at a time, with long side facing you, make three 4-inch-long parallelograms per strip, discarding end scraps, for a total of 12 parallelograms. Invert 2 baking sheets and arrange 6 parallelograms in one layer on each. Freeze pastry 15 minutes, or until firm.
• Remove 1 baking sheet from freezer and invert a metal cooling rack directly onto pastry to cover parallelograms completely. (Cooling rack will weight down pastry to form a decorative pattern.) Bake pastry with cooling rack in middle of oven until golden brown and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully remove rack from pastry and transfer pastry to another rack to cool completely. Bake remaining pastry in same manner. Parallelograms may be made 4 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
• Assemble napoleons:
• Arrange 6 parallelograms, design sides up, on dessert plates and top each with about 1/2 cup filling. Put remaining 6 parallelograms, design sides up, on top of filling and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
• Serve napoleons with lemon cream.