So many strawberries… Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

It is so dang hot.

Not that I’m complaining, I love you sun,

But it is getting tricky to get the courage up enough to venture out into the heat trap in the veg garden to pick the fruit.

Someone told me this has been a really good year for strawberries, all due to the time the rain fell this winter (which I thought was all the time. Incessantly. Non-stop). It has certainly been a good strawberry year for us. I’ve been eating them all the time for last couple of weeks.

On top of the strawberries, the raspberries have taken off, along with the red currants, boysenberries, jostaberries and the blackcurrants. I think I almost had a breakdown end of last week due to the overwhelming amount that needed to be picked.

This blurry photograph is of 45 minutes picking of just strawberries. I didn’t even get half way through the patch, and I have eaten a few handfuls from the container already…

Strawberries are those red gems in the veg patch. They are so good for so many different recipes. You have Strawberry Jam, Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam, Strawberries and Elderflower Cake. Strawberries are amazing with natural Greek yoghurt, chocolate cake (which we have been having a lot of, of course), chocolate mousse, mashed with banana (oh, childhood), banana and strawberry smoothies. But one of my recent-ish discoveries has been how good strawberries go with just plain old vanilla ice cream.

It is no surprise that they go wonderfully well with some food chocolate ice cream (because what doesn’t go well with chocolate ice cream?), but as I am not someone particularly ecstatic about the idea of vanilla ice cream, I was very surprised when I had to eat it for dessert at one time in my life, how well the mixture went together.

The subtle vanilla twang and the creamy consistency of the ice cream got marvellously with this juicy berry, but it also looks so spectacular together: the red and white colours mixing together.

I have been replicating that dreamy match lately with some homemade vanilla ice cream (oh yes, I have recently discovered how yummy and easy it is to make ice cream, even without an ice cream maker).

So, lots of strawberries? No problem! Here is your next recipe…

Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

(Serves 6)

-8 egg yolks -225g granulated sugar -300ml double cream -500ml full fat/whole milk -1 ¼ tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl.
2. In a saucepan, bring the cream and milk just to boiling point. Pour the warmed contents of the saucepan into the egg yolk bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the vanilla extract and mix in well.
4. Pour into an ice cream container and freeze until solid, about 6-8 hours.
5. Allow to defrost slightly before serving in scoops with fresh strawberries scattered over the top.