Strawberries & Cream

Pickled Green Strawberries, Cream Cheese Ice Cream, Strawberry Ganache, and Einkorn Crumble

Pastry Chef Lucas Trahan of Ever | Chicago

Adapted by StarChefs | September 2021

INGREDIENTS:

Pickled Green Strawberries:
150 grams white balsamic vinegar
100 grams Champagne vinegar
100 grams rice vinegar
5 lemon peels
30 grams salt
100 grams sugar
500 grams green strawberries, tops removed

Cream Cheese Ice Cream:
600 grams heavy cream
1.1 kilograms sugar
2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
1.4 kilograms half-and-half
1.4 kilograms cream cheese, diced into small pieces
25 grams lemon juice

Strawberry Ganache:
300 grams strawberry purée
40 grams white balsamic vinegar
2 grams salt
300 grams strawberry chocolate
5 grams lemon juice

Chewy Fraise du Boise:
Fraise du bois

Einkorn Crumble:
160 grams red fife flour
80 grams einkorn flour
90 grams tempered butter
40 grams sugar
5 grams salt

To Assemble and Serve:
Freeze-dried strawberries, blended to a powder
Lemon verbena
Cyprus black salt
Pepperberry salt

METHOD:

For the Pickled Green Strawberries:
In a pot over medium heat, combine vinegars, lemon peels, salt, sugar, and 350 grams water. Bring to a boil. In a nonreactive container, pour hot liquid over strawberries. Cover and let sit in a dark, cool place for about 1 week.

For the Cream Cheese Ice Cream:
Pour heavy cream and sugar into a large sauce pot. Over low heat, add vanilla beans and allow cream to come to a simmer. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Strain and discard beans. To a Vitamix blender, add cream mixture and remaining ingredients; blend until smooth. For best results, pour into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. Alternatively, pour into a shallow dish, cover, and allow to freeze overnight.

For the Strawberry Ganache:
In a small pot, bring purée, vinegar, and salt to a boil. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth then emulsify in the lemon juice. Let crystalize overnight.

For the Chewy Fraise du Bois:
Dehydrate the fraise in a dehydrator for 15 to 30 minutes depending on size. It should be just long enough to let the sugars firm up and give the fruit a little bit of chew.

For the Einkorn Crumble:
In a bowl, mix to combine all ingredient. Crumble onto a parchment-lined sheet tray and bake at 350°F. Every 5 minutes, take it out and chop with a bench knife to crumble. Bake until toasty and golden, about 15 to 20 minutes.

To Assemble and Serve:
In a frozen serving bowl, pipe a small amount of the Strawberry Ganache. Place a scoop of the Cream Cheese Ice Cream on top and use the back of the scoop to depress the ice cream. Use a tea strainer to evenly dust the top of the Cream Cheese Ice Cream with a solid layer of freeze-dried strawberry powder. Place a piece of Pickled Green Strawberry on the rim of the divot at 10 o'clock, a Chewy Fraise du Bois at 10:30, and a leaf of lemon verbena at 4 o'clock. In a straight line from 12 to 6, sprinkle some of the Einkorn Crumble then do the same with the salts.

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