Summery puff pastry rhubarb on a rainy summer's day...

What's better on a typical rainy and cold Swedish summer's day than a rhubarb dessert. To me rhubarb is summer, it can rain cats and dogs for all I care because if you serve rhubarb it is summer. Rhubarbs are grown in each and every garden in Sweden and it almost grows like weed, so it's no wonder that it's become a popular ingredient in so many wonderful desserts. There are many ways to prepare the rhubarb, the most common one, in Sweden, is to make rhubarb fool, but today I've decided to make "Puff pastry rhubarb with vanilla ice cream".

This was more of an impulse thing and because I wanted to save time I bought ready-made puff pastry, it works really well for those who are lazy or stressed. This dessert is really simple to make but the end result is amazing. This is how you make it; divide your puff pastry (rolled out) in squares, approximately 5 x 5 centimetres and make light holes in it with a fork, but leave a centimetre untouched by the edge so the pastry can fluff up and go crispy in the oven. Put your puff pastry squares on a baking tray with greaseproof paper and cover it with plastic foil and put it in the fridge.
Now you can start making your rhubarb compote, for every 3.5 ounces of rhubarb you need one tablespoon of sugar and half a tablespoon of water. Bring your rhubarb and water to a boil and then add the sugar. The compote is ready when the sugar has melted and the rhubarb is soft. About 7 ounces of rhubarb is enough for four puff pastry squares.
When this is done you need to make an almond paste, for this you need almonds (3.5 ounces), fresh ginger (2,5 centimetres), brown sugar ( 2 tablespoons), half a vanilla pod and water (½ tablespoon). Ground or blend your almonds, grate the ginger and split your vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape the content out with the back of your knife. Put all your ingredients in a bowl and mix them together in an even paste. This is enough for four puff pastry squares.

Take out your puff pastry squares from the fridge and turn your oven on 200 degrees. Brush the edge of your puff pastry squares with egg and then spread the almond paste over the middle of the square and top it off with the rhubarb compote before you put it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry has fluffy edges and a golden brown colour. Powder with icing sugar and serve with soft vanilla ice cream, then it's just to enjoy the summer!