As a child growing up in a rural village one of the pleasures of the summer was picking strawberries. When June arrived I, along with all the other children, waited excitedly for the giant signs to go up in the farmer's fields advertising that pick your own strawberry season was here again. As soon as the signs went up, mums and dads were nagged and nagged until we were eventually allowed to go, and the fields were soon filled with families carrying assorted boxes, cartons and baskets which were soon filled with luscious, plump, scarlet strawberries.
When I moved to France one of the first things I planted in my vegetable garden was two rows of strawberry plants. I felt like a child again, waiting for the plants to grow and provide me with a bumper crop of fruit. What I didn't anticipate was how many strawberries two rows of plants provide and I was soon overwhelmed with mountains, well small mountains if I am to be totally truthful, but still far too many for me to eat.
The problem with strawberries, the only problem that I can see as I absolutely love them, is that they arrive at the hottest time of the year. I love making jam, and make quite a lot of it, but the thought of spending hours in the kitchen making jam during the hottest weeks of the year filled me with dread. Fortunately strawberries make fantastic ice cream and so turning to my trusty Ice Cream Maker I set about making strawberry ice cream in the simplest and quickest way I could possibly think of.
Below is my homemade ice cream recipe for strawberry ice cream. It is very simple and easy to make, and tastes delicious especially on a hot summers evening with a chilled glass of local french wine.
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
450g Strawberries
75g Sugar
450g Double Cream
50ml Water
First of all hull and chop your strawberries in to small pieces, I tend to chop larger strawberries in to six and smaller strawberries in to four. Place to one side.
Place the sugar and the water in to a pan to make a sugar syrup. Heat until the sugar has dissolved and then simmer for a few minutes. Pour the syrup and th strawberries in to a food processor and blend until you have a puree.
Add the puree to the cream and churn in your Ice Cream Maker.
