It’s Rhubarb season in Switzerland! And what better way to celebrate than a sweet and tangy Rhubarb crumble paired with a parfait? Classically, I’d serve a vanilla parfait, but I recently purchased a couple of Tonka Beans and I wanted to experiment a little. Tonka beans are similar to Vanilla beans in processing but a little more rich and spicy in flavor. So today’s recipe is a classic Rhubarb crumble topped with a Tonka Parfait!
Ingredients (4 people):
Rhubarb
1kg rhubarb, in approx. 3 cm long pieces
3-4 tbsp brown sugar
Crumble
100 g flour
5 tbsp brown sugar
70 g butter or margarine, cold, in pieces
Tonka Parfait
2 eggs (egg yolks and egg whites separated)
1 Tonka Bean (finely grated)
5 tbsp sugar
2.5 dl heavy cream
pinch of salt
Preparation:
Rhubarb Crumble
Cut your rhubarb into small pieces and mix with 3-4 tbsp of brown sugar. If you want, you can peel the rhubarb first, it helps to prevent the tangy feel on your tongue, however, with fresh rhubarb it is usually not necessary. Put the mixture into a buttered oven dish.
Mix the flour, 5 tbsp of brown sugar and add pieces of cold butter. Mix with your fingers until a crumbly consistency is reached. Spread the crumble over the rhubarb.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes in the middle of the oven preheated to 200 degrees. Remove, dust with icing sugar and serve warm.
Tonka Parfait
The parfait should be prepared in the morning or even a day or two in advance. You need three bowls: In the first bowl, mix the egg yolk, 4 tablespoons of sugar and grated tonka bean well in a bowl until the mixture brightens. In the second bowl, whip your cream until it stiffens. And in the third bowl, whip your egg whites with a pinch of salt until they stiffen, gradually add a tablespoon of sugar and keep whisking, it helps stiffen the eggwhites even more. Add the whipped cream to the egg yolk sugar mixture, then carefully fold the egg whites into the mixture, immediately pour it into the parfait moulds. Let the molds rest in the freezer for at least ca. 4 hours until dessert is served up.
Plate up your warm rhubarb crumble and place a tonka parfait on top – and enjoy!
