Strawberry Top and Black Pepper Caramel Ice Cream
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I love Saturday mornings at the farmer’s market. Despite the lack of parking and the oppressive Florida sun, my perfect weekend begins with a long walk, a giant iced coffee, and smushing my way through crowds of people to find perfectly imperfect produce. About two months ago, Martin was traveling for work and I spent one of these luxurious mornings alone, strolling through the tents at my favorite market. I was there just to see what interesting finds I would stumble upon and to take inventory of the fruits and herbs beginning to come into season, only to discover that the sweetest season of the year had arrived—Florida strawberry season. Strawberries start to come into season a little earlier in Florida, and all of the produce stalls were filled with fragrant, bright red berries. I think only half of my haul made it home as I couldn’t keep myself from snacking on them in the car. My little recipe development brain was racing with all of the possibilities.
I spent the next few days popping the little red berries in my mouth while sketching out a few different recipe plans for them. I didn’t want to waste any part of these precious little ones, so I began keeping the sliced off tops (that part with a little bit of white and the grassy green hat) in a deli container in my fridge. I didn’t know what exactly I was saving them for, but after a day or two, I decided that a little strawberry top ice cream was calling my name.
Ice cream is the perfect base to for incorporating flavor. Dairy has a good amount of fat content, which means it absorbs flavor easily without the addition of lots of extra sugar. For this ice cream base, I cold-steeped the strawberry tops in cream overnight which imparted a subtle strawberry flavor, not quite as strong as a traditional highlighter pink strawberry ice cream. I swirled this strawberry ice cream with a black pepper caramel, which added a little bit of depth and a hint of spice.
Due to the lack of space in my tiny, baby kitchen, I unfortunately do not have an ice cream maker, so this is a no-churn, no fancy equipment needed ice cream base. Many no-churn ice cream recipes rely on sweetened condensed milk and I really didn’t want all of that extra sweetness in this one, so we cut that right out. This recipe uses a traditional creme anglaise base that is chilled really well and then whipped and frozen. (This also means that if you are one of those lucky ducks that have your own ice cream maker, you can use this recipe and just follow the instructions of your machine after the anglaise is chilled.)
Strawberry Top and Black Pepper Caramel Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 150 g strawberry tops
- 2 cups (460 g) heavy cream
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 T water
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 T butter
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl or container with a lid, combine heavy cream and strawberry tops. Seal and refrigerate for 18-24 hours.
- Strain strawberry pieces out of cream. You should be left with about 1 3/4 cups heavy cream. Transfer to a medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until cream is beginning to bubble around the edges of the pan and is hot to the touch.
- While the cream is heating, whisk together salt, vanilla, egg yolks, and sugar in a large bowl. When the cream is hot, slowly stream it into the egg mixture, whisking continually the whole time. Transfer the entire mixture back into the saucepan and return to heat.
- Cook, stirring continually with a wooden spoon, over low-medium heat until anglaise sauce is thickened, but do not bring to a boil. You can test if the sauce is ready by wiping your finger through the sauce along the back of the wooden spoon. If the line your finger creates holds, the sauce is ready. If it drips, continue cooking.
- When the sauce is sufficiently thickened, strain into a large mixing bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
- Whipping and chilling: When the anglaise sauce is cold, transfer to a mixer and begin whipping. Whip until soft peaks form and then return to the refrigerator.
- Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Gently jostle the saucepan so that all of the sugar is moistened, but do not stir.
- Place saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and caramel begins to turn golden in color. Swirl the saucepan gently, and then continue to cook until caramel is a deep amber color.
- Remove from heat, and gradually stream in heavy cream, whisking continually. When all of the cream has been added, return caramel to heat and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
- Remove caramel from heat and stir in butter and black pepper. Let cool completely.
- In a 8x8 pan or a loaf pan, place half of the whipped creme anglaise. Drizzle 1/4 of the caramel sauce over the top and use the back of a knife to swirl. Then add the rest of the whipped anglaise, followed by more caramel and swirl again. (You will most likely have caramel leftover, store in the refrigerator and save it for drizzling on top or for another recipe.)
- Cover the dish with plastic wrap and freeze overnight (8-12 hours).
