Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

There are fewer pleasures greater in life than the bare basics. Sometimes striping it back and forgetting about the stresses of life is the best thing. Especially when strawberry picking is the basic therapy.

It was time for the annual trip to the PYO, Scaddows and for the first time in a while I was truly stumped as to what to do with the strawberries. Not helped by the fact that PYOing is addictive. By the time we dragged ourselves away from the field the Mr and I had picked enough to feed an army.

As it turns out this recipe ended up coming from leftovers in the fridge and a 6 month long desire to make ice cream. It's super simple, and the rewards definitely outweigh the effort required. I am a "If you wanna make it, make it" kind of person and so if it is July and you have a desperate compulsion to make Christmas cake - do it! It wasn't the seasonality of ice cream that had me waiting so long to make it. It was freezer space. But moving means emptying the freezer so there was space to fill!

In our last house the kitchen was so tiny it resembled Rachel Khoo's Paris kitchen, so space for a big fridge-freezer there was not. Now that we've moved there is plenty of space so we will be investing in a big old chest freezer....that way if I want to make ice cream in January I can. I could make it every week if I wanted to. I'll make it every week. Oh, lord I'm going to be huge.

Anyway, I digress, like I said this ice cream is super easy. Maybe not one for pregnant ladies or young kids due to there being raw egg in the recipe, however, if you can get hold of a carton of pasteurised egg you're golden.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

350g Strawberries

170g Caster Sugar

Juice of 1 Small Lemon

3 Large Egg Whites

2 Egg Yolks (feel free to add the third if you want to save on waste - they add richness to the recipe)

85g Icing Sugar

300ml Double Cream

1/2 tspn of vanilla paste/extract

Strawberry Compote:

Hull and chop your strawberries, then add them top a pan along with your sugar and lemon. Mix these together then leave the pan on a low heat - avoiding letting the mixture boil - until the mix has reduced in size and the strawberries have more or less dissolved in their own juices.

Allow to cool before blending it smooth, then put to one side to chill.

Ice Cream:

Mix together your yolks and vanilla, and set to one side.

Whip your egg whites until they start to stiffen then slowly add the icing sugar, keep whisking until it is fully incorporated and the mix forms stiff peaks.

Now whip your double cream until it just holds it shape.

Now add your yolk mix and 3/4 of your strawberry compote to your double cream and gently fold until evenly mixed.

Slowly start adding your egg white mix to the cream mix and fold in gently until fully incorporated.

Take your last bit of compote and use to ripple through the ice cream.

Put into a 1 litre tub then freeze. After about 5 hours it should be ready to eat.