Perfect Parfait: Strawberry Pistachio Frozen Parfait

Strawberry Pistachio Parfait (01) by MeetaK

 

What a treat on a hot, sweltering day. I am an ice-cream girl throughout the year. But I especially enjoy them in the summer. In the summer, that's when the Farmer's Markets display their colorful bounties on display. Each stall is simply bursting with fresh ripe fruit and berries. All screaming at me to take them home and with a wave of my wooden spoon and a buzz of my ice-cream maker to turn them into gorgeous, cool desserts. 

I tell you it is a tough decision. Apricots, peaches, mangoes, figs or berries - I really have to pull my inner brakes on my imagination. My brain is already in 6th gear, making up all kinds of desserts and I am panicking because I cannot buy my ingredients as fast!

Finally, my eyes caught a glimpse of perfect strawberries. Baskets and baskets - all lined neatly in several rows, creating a vivid sea of red. Oh and the aroma was heavenly - the pure sweetness that lingered in the air was addicting. No wonder I came back with about 2 large baskets.

It was the week I had my birthday. I was busy planning a few little get-togethers and making several desserts. On the weekend I ended the party week marathon with a big barbeque dinner and this simply perfect parfait. As it had been an extremely hot and sunny week I think I hit all the right notes with this dessert. The strawberries were put to perfect use. Initially I had planned on putting my ice cream maker to use to make a creamy ice cream. I was probably still on the sugar shock I was suffering from that week and my adrenaline was on it's all time high. I felt like making a more elegant version of strawberry ice-cream.

Pistachios add a delicious crunch and pureed strawberries lend their heavenly aroma to this dessert. It's creamy, it's nutty, it's fruity and it's frozen. What more could you ask for?


Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

Strawberry Pistachio Parfait (02) by MeetaK

80-90g skinned pistachios
500g fresh strawberries, roughly chopped + 100g, sliced
80g sugar
400g cream
100g icing sugar
5 egg yolks
15g vanilla sugar


Method

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a piece of baking paper.

Dry roast the pistachios in a pan. Remove from heat. In the same pan add 4 tablespoons water and sugar and allow to caramelize. Once the caramel turns a gorgeous amber color add the roasted pistachios and stir to coat with the caramel. 

Quickly turn out the pistachios on the baking sheet and allow to cool. Finally, coarsely chop the pistachio brittle.

Puree 500g strawberries using a pureeing machine. The consistency of the puree is entirely up to you. I prefer to have large strawberry bits in the parfait, not only because it looks nice but tastes great. Stir in 30g of icing sugar.

Place a mixing bowl on a pot of boiling water to create a water bath. With and electric hand mixer, whisk the eggs and the remaining 70g icing sugar into a thick, creamy mixture. Remove from the water bath and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a clean bowl, beat the cream with the vanilla sugar until stiff.

First pour in the strawberry puree into the egg mixture, followed by the pistachio brittle and finally fold in the cream.

Line a rectangle cake form with a large freezer bag cut to fit the form. Pour in the parfait mixture and allow to freeze overnight.

On the day you plan to serve the parfait, take out of the refrigerator and allow to sit for a few minutes. The tip it onto a chopping board, removing the plastic bag. Cut into slices and serve arranged with sliced fresh strawberries and optionally a few mint leaves.


Verdict

Strawberry Pistachio Parfait (03) by MeetaK

Fancy ice-cream I admit but worth the effort. My guests all had double portions, I think I myself had three!! It's just different than strawberry ice-cream because a frozen parfait is - well the elegant sister of the strawberry ice cream. The pistachio brittle are a nice crunchy surprise giving the cool, smooth parfait another texture. C'est parfait!

The very magnificent Mike of Mike's Table is very appropriately holding a fantastic event: You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts! So, let's all shout out load! Check out the roundup - I promise it'll be a very cooling one ;-)

You might enjoy these frozen delights from WFLH too:

CherrySemifredo01
Cherry Semifredo Cake
ApricotPistachioIceCream01
Fruity Apricot and Nutty Pistachio Ice Cream
GingerLemonIceCream01
Fresh Ginger and Tangy Lemon Ice Cream
RaspberryDarkChocolateIceCream03
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream

 

From around the blogs:

Tartelette's mouthwatering Banana Raspberry Frozen Parfait
A Cat in the Kitchen's sinfully good frozen stracciatella cake with fudge sauce
Tasty Palette's very red watermelon granita
Live to Eat's lovely orange blueberry granita with a hint of ginger

Reminder!

MM Mango Mania July 2008-250px The Monthly Mingle is in full swing this month with Mango Mania. I am enjoying your fantastic ideas and creations. Hope the rest of you will join us experimenting with this lovely fruit.

Joining the party is easy. Create a mango dish and post it on your blog by July 14 and send it on over to me. You will find more details here.

Deadline: 14 July 2008



All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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40 comments:

  1. beautiful post, Meeta! The abundance of strawberries is one of the reasons why I absolutely love summertime! That and the fact that I'm not constantly covered in winter clothes and buried in snow.
    ps. the bowl you used to hold your strawberries in the first photo looks really cool! where's it from?

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  2. Meeta, Right now I wanna have some of that. It looks fantastic and too delectable. Thnx for sharing.

    www.zaiqa.net

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  3. Beautiful! Love the look of those pistachios when you cut into it.

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  4. Pistachios and strawb looks like great combo :) Love ur picture as usual!

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  5. Oh! I love the white bowl in the first pic.

    It looks like a gigantic hard-boiled egg white :)

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  6. Such a summery and pretty dessert! Wish my friends were nearby so i could make it for a lovely girlie evening in:)

    For some reason, it reminds me of kulfi!

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  7. I think I could easily eat three portions of that as well!

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  8. The green of the pistachios against the pink is just lovely!

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  9. First time on your blog. The parrait is Very yummy looking. Very nice pictures on your blog.

    Anitha

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  10. All I can say right now is "yum" (since I'm awestruck by the beauty of that parfait, and therefore speechless).

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  11. Oh..Delicious..Loved the picture ..

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  12. I am screaming for that strawberry parfait right now!! I love those pics Meeta:)

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  13. Truly amazing Meeta. The pictures are unbelievable. You are truly an inspiration.

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  14. gorgeous meeta - and perfect for us, strawberries are my favourite and pistachio's are david's :)

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  15. Not sure how I'd never had a parfait before, but this looks like a great way to dress up ice cream. I could see how this one would go quickly. Thanks for a great entry!

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  16. It's creamy, it's nutty, it's fruity and it's frozen. For summer, I think that's all I need to hear!!

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  17. As always, great post, great work. I just did a summer fruit, cream parfait with simple syrup. If you have the time come by and take a look. I love your pictures as well. I wish mine where so good.

    http://cookingquest.wordpress.com

    Thanks so much and thanks for the great ideas all the time!

    Joe

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  18. Gorgeous Meeta! You know how I love all things ice cream...

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  19. you are simply great Meeta, I am amazed to see how you manage ur busy life and cooking that too with such a perfection. Mouthwatering pics :).

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  20. Oh so beautiful! Love the contrast of the green and pink.

    Our strawberries are now available and so nicely perfumed...love fresh, local, ripe berries.

    nummy.

    j

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  21. Oh my, Meeta. You have outdone yourself here. What a gorgeous creation!

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  22. My fellow ice-cream girl! I too love them all year round. I've tagged you with a meme :)

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  23. i almost fell from my seat when i saw the photo..oh Meeta you are torturing me with this delicious parfait. I love it!

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  24. Lovely colour, Meeta - Even better flavour, I'd imagine too.

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  25. Thanks everyone for the comments. I love the pistachio strawberry combination too. But then - many of you know - I love almost everything with pistachios in, on or around it!!
    Hope you enjoy this!

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  26. I adore parfait and this combination sounds (and looks) really delicious!

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  27. Happy Birthday Meeta! I must have known somehow, because I had a dream about you last night. You moved to FL and invited Roberto and I to dinner and I was so excited because I knew it would be great and I was so thrilled for you and Roberto to meet so you could talk photography! LOL!

    This looks so scrumptious by the way! :)

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  28. Okay, so your birthday was over a month ago..guess that means I am not too psychic! LOL!

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  29. It just such a pretty colour, perfect for Summer!

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  30. Great combo of flavors! The photos are gorgeous!

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  31. What a lovely recipe. Mouthwatering.

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  32. i thought pistachios? meh. but then i kept looking at your photos and i was like, oh my, i need to try this! what a great dessert. do you know if your "icing sugar" is the same thing as our "confectioner's sugar" (which we use to make icing??)

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  33. Hmmmm.. awesome delicious post.. i am drroling at your pics dear....as always

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  34. Its a cross b/w ice cream and semifreddo. So girly, so pretty :D. Thanks for the mention.

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  35. Thanks you everyone!

    Jenn - you are too funny but thank you for the wishes.

    Mimi Pistachios are great - don't tell me you do not like pistachios!!

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  36. I love green and pink together - and pistachios and strawberries must be wonderful combined, Meeta!

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  37. Very nice, like ice cream but not ice cream. And anything with brittle in it has to be good, right?

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  38. Definitely looks elegant, delicious, and worth the effort. Awesome photography.

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta