If you haven’t got any vanilla sugar to hand (though you can have, just by leaving a vanilla pod or two in a jar of caster sugar for a few days, even less if you cut the pod up), use ordinary caster sugar and add a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the cream when you whip it.
Ingredients:
1 kg ( a little over 2 pounds) rhubarb, trimmed and coarsely chopped
300g (1 1/3 cups) vanilla sugar
500ml ( I used 2 1/4 cups) double (heavy) cream
Method:
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Mix the rhubarb and vanilla sugar together in an ovenproof dish. Do not add water. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the fruit is completely soft. Drain in a colander, or sieve, and pour the juice (you should have about 2 1/4 cups or so) into a saucepan, then heat and let bubble away until reduced by about half. Pour into a dish and leave to cool; do not, however, refrigerate as the syrup might crystallize and lose its fabulous bright clarity.
Puree the fruit until totally smooth, then cool and chill this as well.
Whip the cream in a large chilled bowl until lusciously thick but not stiff.
Carefully fold in the rhubarb puree, then some of the reduced juice, so the mixture is streaked, rather like raspberry ripple ice cream. Pour some of the reduced syrup on top and then put the rest in a glass jug so that people can add more, if they want, as they eat.
Serves 8.
By Moveable Feasts.
Thanks for inspiring us!
You can see the recipe here: moveablefeastscookbook.blogspot.com
