The best strawberry ice cream
Martha Collison's recipe is creamy and luxurious as well as refreshing and tart. Adding lemon juice balances the sweetness perfectly, and the olive oil (trust me!) adds a grassy pepperiness that brings out the summery flavour of the berries.
- Serves6
- CourseDessert
- Prepare20 mins
- Cook10 mins
- Total time30 mins
- PlusPreparation time 20 minutes + macerating, chilling, churning and freezing
Ingredients
- 225g strawberries, hulled, plus extra for serving
- 200g caster sugar
- 300ml whole milk
- 300ml double cream
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 4 British Blacktail Free Range Large Egg yolks
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, juice (about 2½ tbsp)
- 2 drop/s pink food colouring (optional)
Method
Roughly chop the strawberries and place into the bowl of a food processor or blender with 100g of the sugar. Set aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes before blitzing, while you make the custard base.
Heat the milk, cream and vanilla in a medium saucepan until just simmering (don’t allow it to boil), then remove from the heat.
Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a large bowl for 2-3 minutes, until pale and slightly thickened.
Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat, scrape into a large bowl and allow to cool completely. If you add the strawberries too early, the hot custard will effectively cook them and dull their flavour.
Blitz the macerated strawberries to a chunky purée. Add the olive oil and lemon juice, then blitz again until smooth. Pour the strawberry purée into the cooled custard mixture and stir to combine. It will turn a pleasing pale pink colour naturally, but add a touch of pink food colouring if you want a brighter ice cream. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions, until frozen but still spoonable. You may have to do this in 2 batches, depending on your ice cream maker’s capacity.
Transfer to a 2L freezerproof container and freeze for at least 3 hours, until firm. Serve with more fresh strawberries.
Cook’s tip
Everyone has different flavour preferences, and strawberries come in varying degrees of sweetness, so give the ice cream base a taste before you churn it and adjust accordingly. Be aware that sugar is dulled slightly when frozen, so it won’t be as sweet as it tastes at room temperature.
Without an ice-cream maker
If you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour the chilled strawberry custard into the freezerproof container, then cover and freeze for 3 hours. Beat with an electric hand mixer (or whizz in a food processor) to break down the ice crystals until smooth, then freeze and beat again twice more until thick and creamy. Return to the container and freeze until firm.
Nutritional
Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe
Energy | 2,287kJ/ 550kcals |
|---|---|
Fat | 40g |
Saturated Fat | 20g |
Carbohydrates | 39g |
Sugars | 39g |
Fibre | 0.9g |
Protein | 7.3g |
Salt | 0.2g |