Rhubarb and quark cheese strudel

An inspiration for you to plant some rhubarb now

This is recipe for Thomas Haas' popular rhubarb strudel, using a traditional puff pastry. Buy a high-quality frozen puff pastry at your favourite grocery store, and fill it with a sweet quark cheese filling and naturally tart fresh rhubarb. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Rhubarb filling

400 g rhubarb, cut into 1/2" chunks
100 g sugar
1/2 vanilla pod
1 Orange, juiced and zested

In a large bowl, toss rhubarb with rest of the ingredients and macerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Place rhubarb in oven-proof bakeware and cover with tinfoil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until rhubarb is tender.

Cheese filling

200 g quark cheese
40 g eggs
50 g sugar
7 g semolina flour
7 g cornstarch
2 g lemon zest
40 g golden raisins

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Assembly

1 egg
milk
1 pinch salt
5 g ground cinnamon
15 g sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Roll puff pastry into 10”x16” square, about 1/4" thick.

Cut into 2 sheets:6”x16” (top layer) and 4”x16” (bottom layer).

Spread quark filling on top of bottom layer of pastry, making sure to leave ½” border on each side.

Evenly spread a layer of rhubarb filling on top of quark filling.

Brush borders of the puff pastry lightly with water.

In a small bowl, combine egg, milk and salt.

Place top layer of pastry over, and lightly brush the top of the strudel with egg wash.

sprinkle generously with a mixture of cinnamon sugar on the top.

Pierce the top of the strudel with a fork to let the steam escape the pastry.

Place the strudel on a lined baking sheet and bake the strudel for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield:
8 Servings