Strawberry ice cream

Ever since recently acquiring a copy of Nigella's 'Forever Summer' on DVD and watching her make strawberry ice cream, I have been wanting to make some myself, which is funny, as I don't even like strawberry ice cream.  Perhaps I should clarify, I don't like commercial strawberry ice cream, or strawberry flavoured milk, or any of those artificially flavoured products.  To me they are overly sweet, and taste nothing like real strawberries.  So it was the possibility of making an ice cream that actually tasted like fresh strawberries that appealed to me.  I decided however not to go with Nigella's recipe, simply because it used 10 egg yolks (to 1L of milk and cream), and instead found a recipe that uses 5 yolks (to 750ml of milk and cream).  This recipe is from 'Iced' (edited by Katri Hilden and Emma Hutchinson).

The recipe calls for the pureed strawberries to be sieved to remove the seeds (as did quite a few of the recipes I found before settling on this one).  I don't really understand why.  To me, strawberry seeds are pretty inoffensive, and so what is the point of removing them?  To make your homemade strawberry ice cream look more like a commercially prepared one?  To remove the evidence that it had in fact been made from actual fruit?  Nonetheless, I attempted to comply, even though I was pretty certain my finest strainer would not be fine enough to remove strawberry seeds.  I was right - strawberry seeds were going through, and all it was really doing was holding back some of the pulp which would be needed for flavour, so I gave up and just put all the strawberry puree in, unsieved.

The flavour of this was really nice, and hooray - did actually taste of real strawberries!  My husband said it was like eating fresh strawberries and cream, but in frozen form.  The only thing I would say though, is it is not the creamiest ice cream I have ever eaten.  Having been churned in the ice cream machine, it wasn't icy either, just not as creamy as I would have liked.  I think this is partly my own fault.  The custard uses half cream, half milk, and all I had to hand, indeed all I ever have to hand, is low fat and skim milk.  So I used low fat, and normally this doesn't seem to detract from the finished product too much.  In this case though, I think it did, and I think it is because of the combination of the lower fat milk, plus the volume of strawberries once frozen is obviously going to add more iciness than creaminess to the finished product, so therefore perhaps needs a creamier base custard to counterbalance.  All the recipes I've found similarly use half milk, half cream, so perhaps merely using full fat milk would have made a difference.  I will have to try it next time and see, or else increase the proportion of cream to milk.  Nigella's recipe with the 10 egg yolks would make for a thicker custard, which would help the creaminess, but then it also contains twice as much strawberries.  I think it does also help if one is patient and does let the ice cream soften a little before hoeing in!  In any case, this cooking experience has redeemed strawberry ice cream for me, which I previously avoided (except in those curiously compelling strawberry sundaes sold at the Ekka - Brisbane's yearly show). 

Strawberry ice cream

Makes 1L

375ml milk
375ml cream
115g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
250g very ripe strawberries, pureed and sieved

Heat the milk, cream and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is nearly at boiling point (but do not allow to come to the boil).  Remove from heat.

Whisk the egg yolks together and then add 1/4 of a cup of the milk mixture and whisk to combine.  Whisk in the remaining milk mixture, then tip back into the saucepan.  Stir constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture has thickened sufficiently to coat the back of a spoon.  One way to test if the custard is ready, is to dip the spoon into the custard, pull it out of the mixture, and using your finger, draw a line through the mixture on the back of the spoon.  If the mixture is thick enough that the two halves remain separate, then the custard is ready.  If the mixture runs off the spoon, or the two halves run together, return the pan to the heat and keep stirring and retest in another couple of minutes.  Do not allow the mixture to boil.  Once ready, tip the custard into a container, cover the surface with cling film (this prevents the surface of the custard from forming a skin), allow to cool slightly, and then place in the fridge to chill completely.

Stir the pureed strawberries into the chilled custard and churn in an ice cream machine.  Otherwise, transfer the mixture to shallow metal trays and freeze, whisking every few hours to break up the forming ice crystals until the mix is frozen and smooth.  Freeze for 5 hours or overnight.  Allow to soften in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

custard and strawberry puree

combined custard and puree before churning

the ice cream immediately after churning

No churn pomegranate ice cream

I am cooking dinner for a couple of friends tomorrow night. I received my first order from Herbies this week, which included pomegranate molasses, ras el hanout and za'atar - all ingredients I have not been able to easily procure, so I was eager to incorporate them into the menu. So not surprisingly then, I have a bit of a Middle Eastern theme going on. This is the menu I have planned... I hope I get it all done.

Starters
Turkish bread (bought the bread; I am going to brush it with olive oil and sprinkle it with za'atar before baking it)
Fried halloumi with lemon juice and pepper
Cucumber and pomegranate salad (recipe from Feast, Nigella)
Herbed bulghur wheat and nut salad (another recipe from Feast)

Main
Lamb and apricot tagine served with either couscous or rice (think I will cook the couscous in chicken stock with a little ras el hanout - maybe - otherwise plain)

Dessert
Chocolate and pistachio cake (recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess, Nigella)
No Churn Pomegranate ice cream (recipe from Nigella Express)
bought Turkish Delight (yummy stuff made in Cyprus with pistachio nuts in it)

I had hoped to get the cake made tonight, but went grocery shopping too late, so that will be on the list of things to do first thing tomorrow. I did however get the pomegranate ice cream made, so that is one less thing to worry about tomorrow. It's a bit of an indulgence, as pomegranates aren't cheap, but I wanted it to be a special meal. This recipe is super easy - no custard-making required, and no churning (not that churning bothers me, being the proud owner of an ice cream machine, but for those without a machine, this is a definite bonus). I have previously made Nigella's orange ice cream (recipe in Nigella Bites), and this is basically the same recipe. The orange ice cream was fabulous, so I am confident this will be good too.

Ingredients

• 2 pomegranates (plus seeds from a 3rd for decoration, optional)
• 1 lime
• 175g icing sugar
• 500ml double cream

So simple. Juice the pomegranates and lime and strain the juices into a jug. Add the icing sugar and stir to dissolve.

Whisk the cream (I employed the assistance of my KitchenAid here, but I am sure you could do it with a whisk and some elbow grease without too much hassle, thereby burning off some of the kJs you intend to consume!) until soft peaks form. Fold in the fruit juice syrup and continue whisking until the cream thickens again to form soft peaks. Pour into a suitable airtight container and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds to serve, if using. C'est tout.

strained pomegranate and lime juice; adding the icing sugar

Once the icing sugar dissolves, the mixture forms a syrup-like consistency.

Ready to freeze. I love the beautiful pink colour!

Rhubarb compote

So I am dieting at the moment... One of the things recommended to keep things interesting is to eat seasonal fruit and veg, and to try out new things you wouldn't normally have. Great idea, except it's winter, and so nothing terribly exciting is in season - just apples and pears really. Anyway, I saw a bunch of rhubarb and decided to buy it. Now I have not eaten rhubarb since I was a young girl in Perth, where my parents grew it in our backyard vegie patch. My mum would stew it, and if I was lucky, perhaps add a crumble topping. I have really really bad memories of that rhubarb. Mum was always really stingy with the sugar so it was incredibly tart and I never enjoyed it at all. So I felt I was taking a bit of a gamble buying this.

Good old Weight Watchers has a recipe for rhubarb compote, but it is using only 1tsp of artificial sweetener for 400g of rhubarb - I cannot see how that will effectively counter the natural tartness, and I am definitely not using artificial sweetener. So of course I turn to Nigella's books, knowing rhubarb to be one of her favourite things :). I find a recipe in Feast which involves roasting rather than stewing the rhubarb, with no water at all added, but heaps and heaps of sugar. 225g of caster sugar for 750g of rhubarb. I decided to use 150g for my 600g of rhubarb, so slightly less than Nigella uses. When I pour the sugar in I am alarmed, and wonder if I have done the right thing or if I should have followed WW's recommendations instead.

Unfortunately when the timer went off, I was upstairs feeding the baby, and so asked Jordan (DS1, 14yo) if he could pull it out of the oven for me. About 10 mins later I discovered he hadn't :0. So instead of being tender pieces still holding their shape, it kind of became a mush, but a delicious mush :). We ate it for dessert with some custard (not the proper stuff, but instead made on skim milk from custard powder - Nigella would be appalled).

Nigella says to keep the juice (which had turned deliciously syrupy with all the sugar) for drizzling over icecream or yoghurt, but DH Hans had washed it down the sink when I went to look for it - nooooooo.....

Anyway, verdict was that it was quite yummy. It was almost like jam, I think I could afford to reduce the sugar still further next time.


I love the pinky-red pearlescence of the outside of the stalks.


Zest of an orange added


Caster sugar added - what have I done?! I reduced the amount Nigella uses in the recipe, and yet it still looks like an alarming amount.


All mixed together and smelling gorgeous with the orange zest; ready to roast


Out of the oven and decanted into another container. This spent at least 10 mins too long in the oven, so unfortunately the pieces had lost their shape and the whole thing had become quite jammy. Still tasted good though!


Served for dessert with warm custard