Strawberry Ice Cream

Saturday was a fun day spent with my roommate D. We wanted to go and study in a coffeeshop but crazy Delaware seems to close down at 5pm on Saturdays. Luckily, the "Farmer's Market" was right across the street so we hopped over there to browse. I say "Farmer's Market" in quotes because that is the name of the place but it's really more like a flea market with a Mexican/Asian/even cheaper than Trader Joe's grocery store in the middle. D and I both wandered around with glazed eyes dropping ridiculous things in our shopping cart. Not being one to resist baking ingredients, I gathered up about 5 different boxes of bulk nuts in my arms and went over to D to make sure that I wasn't going overboard buying so many nuts. But at that moment, she was slipping a gigantic case of ramen noodles into the cart as well as cilantro bouillon cubes so I knew we were a lost cause. As you can imagine, we ended up buying lots of ridiculous, but probably yummy in the future, foods and were as happy can be. We also had a great time with "Farmer's Market boy" who we were pseudo-eyeing and whose car, jacket and glasses we are familiar with. Someday we'll find you.

Anyways, they were giving away free strawberries at the farmer's market (!) so we came home with 2 lbs of fresh red happiness. That was made into the following ice cream. I also tried to make a balsamic reduction to drizzle over it but got distracted watching a movie and ended up caramelizing (ie. burning...) the vinegar so it wasn't great but the concept was good.


Adapted from epicurious

1 c heavy cream
3/4 c half and half
1/8 t salt
3 two inch long strips of lemon peel
2 eggs
1/2 c + 1/4 c sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
1 lb fresh strawberries
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Combine cream, zest, and salt in a saucepan and bring just to a boil. Or just bring it to a boil like I did (oops). Remove from heat and fish out the zest.

Whisk eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, then slowly add hot cream 1/4 cup at a time whilst whisking. Pour cream/egg mixture back into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Don't let it boil.

Fill a big metal bowl or deep baking pan halfway with ice cubes and water and set the custard in the ice water until chilled, stirring occasionally.

While custard is chilling, purée strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and vinegar in a blender until smooth. Stir purée into custard.

Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.