Very Very Strawberry Ice Cream (with Roasted Strawberries)

The temperatures are finally rising over here in the UK and because Spring was so late, the strawberry season is still in full flow. A couple of posts back, I mentioned that I had been busy roasting them while they are local, cheap and fresh and how the process of roasting them seems to intensify the strawberry flavour.

I’ve had a hankering for some strawberry ice cream recently, so I decided to use some of those delicious roasted strawberries to make a tub. If they taste that good freshly roasted, how amazing will they taste when churned with cream and frozen?

When I tried to find a recipe however, I was out of luck. Having been through every cook book on my shelf (including those devoted entirely to ice cream) looking for a really creamy strawberry ice cream recipe, I was disappointed to find none that fit the bill. So I decided to put on my creative hat and to try and put one together myself. I’ve packed it full of strawberry, so there is no ambiguity of flavour and so that it tastes really natural.

The result is amazing…………. Very very very strawberry…………. very very creamy…………. very very pink and very delicious. It tastes like the essence of British summer. Quintessential strawberries and cream! Perfect to celebrate Andy Murray’s amazing and long-awaited Wimbledon win……………..

I don’t think I have ever tasted an ice cream so intensely strawberry. It is not over sweet and if anything, is slightly tart so that the over-riding flavour is not sugar, but is fresh and very fruity.

It goes perfectly on waffles (as my daughter discovered this morning for a decadent weekend breakfast treat). It is delicious in a cone and totally wonderful just on its own. The texture is perfect for scooping, it doesn’t seem to melt too quickly in the heat and the colour is really pretty and invitingly pink…………. What else could you want from a strawberry ice cream? This is one that I will definitely be making again.

Very Very Strawberry Ice Cream (with Roasted Strawberries)                                     

Ingredients (makes approx. 750 ml)

250 ml double cream
100 ml milk
90g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175-200 ml roasted strawberries (with juice-syrup) made from 400g fresh strawberries

Method 

1. Prepare (wash, hull and cut in half) 400g strawberries, and roast as instructions from this post. Set aside.                          
   

2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale. Set aside.
3. Warm the milk and cream in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan until it is steaming and slightly frothing, but not quite boiling. Remove from the heat.
4. Whilst continuously whisking the egg-sugar mixture, slowly pour about half of the cream-milk mix into the bowl, and continue to whisk until well combined, light and airy.
5. Pour the mix back into the pan onto the remaining cream-milk and stirring continuously, heat to 80⁰ C / 176⁰ F.
   
6. Remove immediately from the heat and pour through a strainer into a large, clean bowl.
7. Add the roasted strawberries (you may wish to mash a few lightly with a fork to break them up before putting into the mix), and stir well until the mixture is blended.
8. Cool and chill the batter before churning in an ice cream maker, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
9. Once the ice cream has reached the required consistency, spoon immediately into a chilled freezer container and place in the freezer to harden for a few hours.

(If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place the mixture at stage 8 into a shallow container and freeze until mushy. Then turn into a chilled bowl and beat until the ice crystals are broken down. Return to the freezer and freeze again until mushy. Repeat the whisking before freezing for a final time.)