Verinne of Grand-Marnier Soaked Strawberries with Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

This dessert is not only delicious, it is ideal for dinner parties because it can be made in advance & assembled easily right before serving. I made very little changes to the original recipe from Epicurious though I simplified some of the steps.

To make the ice cream:
2/3 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 8oz containers of Vermont Butter and Cheese crème faîche
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, well shaken
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt

To make the ice cream, whisk sugar and egg yolks together in a bowl. In a large saucepan, combine crème fraîche, buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat just until hot, about 4 minutes. Make sure the mixture does not boil! Gradually whisk crème fraîche mixture into the yolk-sugar mixture. Return mixture to same saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat just until instant-read thermometer inserted into the custard registers 170 degrees and custard thickens very slightly, about 4-6 minutes (again, do not boil!). Pour custard through a strainer set over a large bowl. Set bowl with custard in another bowl filled with ice water and whisk occasionally to cool. Transfer the custard to your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept frozen.

For the berries:
4 cups quartered hulled fresh strawberries (about 20 ounces)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange peel

Toss quartered berries, orange juice, powdered sugar, Grand Marnier, and orange peel in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

A verrine is a confection, sweet or savory, made by artfully layering the components of a dish in a small glass. Verrine itself refers to the glass that it used in the dish and their use has soared in France where hundreds of verrine cookbooks have been published in recent years. To assemble this particular verrine, scoop the berries into a small glass and top with a small scoop of ice cream. Garnish each with orange peel and serve.