The strawberry plants have produced a bumper crop this year. I picked 2kg in one day and today picked another basket full, that's besides all the strawberries picked on previous days. I have my very own PYO at the bottom of the garden this year!
The squirrel is quite partial to strawberries and so they have to be covered up with netting which makes picking them quite difficult.
As well as making strawberry jam, I have now made a couple of tubs of ice cream. One ice cream was custard based and the other is a very simple ice cream made with double cream and a few other ingredients. It's best if you have an ice cream making machine because it makes life much simpler.
Next week it will be more jam making, rhubarb and strawberry crumble, Eaton mess, more ice cream, strawberries dipped in chocolate, strawberry cupcakes, strawberries on their own and anything else I can think of to use them up!
FRESHLY CHURNED ICE CREAM
The book from which the recipe is taken has a useful section at the beginning regarding ingredients, finer points of ice cream making and rippling, scooping and serving. Lots of wonderful recipes to whet the appetite such as extra-rich vanilla, strawberry and kiwi fruit, gunpowder, mango, triple berry just to name a few. Also there is a chapter on sauces to serve with your freshly made ice cream.
Rosemary Moon, the author of this book, is a Waitrose consultant and also a food writer.
The following recipe was the best strawberry ice cream I have ever tasted, it's non-custard based and is light and creamy.
ICE CREAM MACHINE BOOK - Rosemary Moon
ISBN 1845430999 - Page 36
(Slightly adapted)
You will need: 450g hulled strawberries, juice of half a lemon or to taste, 150g-200g sieved icing sugar to taste (I used 150g), 300ml double cream (I used whipping cream)
1. Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor, then turn them into a bowl and add the lemon juice and sugar to taste.
2. Stir in the cream.
3. Freeze-churn until the ice cream is ready to serve or pop the ice cream into a tub and freeze for later.