C – I love making ice cream!
Especially, when it’s a new flavor that can’t be found in stores. I have asked Jim what kind of ice cream he wanted. Sometimes, he’d tell me things that I didn’t really want to make, but I made them anyway. While this is not always fair, there are flavors where he could have done better. For example, he asked me to make blackberry gastrique ice cream. But, we only had a couple of tablespoons-full to flavor the ice cream. I didn’t like it. There wasn’t enough flavor to it. My ice creams have to be full of flavor.
I don’t skimp on the amount of flavor that goes into my ice creams. If you ask me to make vanilla bean ice cream, I will put vanilla bean in it. But, I will also add vanilla extract at the end to give it an even fuller taste. I love it when I can taste the flavor more than the cream and sugar in ice cream.
Strawberry lemon curd ice cream came from me being too lazy trying to make three different ice cream flavors for Jim. He wanted strawberry, lemon and lemon curd ice cream. I had just made lemon ice cream in my last batch and made it too lemony. Jim liked it, but wanted me to reduce the amount of lemon I used. I made strawberry ice cream when the Be Mindful. Be Human. kitchen bought the ice cream maker and it was good. Lemon curd ice cream would have to use almost an entire batch of lemon curd. It was just too much effort to make three different batches.
I also couldn’t bring myself to do repeats on ice cream flavors and make lemon curd, again. There are so many options out there. I wanted to keep creating new ones. Plus, I didn’t want to make three different batches of ice cream and wash all those pots, pans and bowls. So, lemon curd and strawberries needed to make an appearance together in ice cream. When Jim asked what kind of ice cream I was making, I told him strawberry lemon curd ice cream. He asked to me repeat, just to be clear. Then, he got how good it might taste.
I knew this batch of ice cream would take some time. Making the strawberry lemon curd was one part. Making the ice cream was the other. Blending sugar, lemon zest, strawberries, lemon juice, butter and eggs was the easy part. Stirring it constantly until the strawberry lemon curd was ready was the hard part.
Luckily it was well worth the effort. It tasted great and I loved it. I saved about a fourth of the strawberry lemon curd batch to dizzle on top or eat right out of the jar. The rest went into the ice cream. Sweet and tart with a bit of strawberry taste, this ice cream was full of flavor. It was really creamy and delicious.
| Strawberry Lemon Curd Ice Cream |
- 3 lemons
- 4 eggs
- A pinch of salt
- 1 stick of butter at room temperature
- 7 large ripe strawberries, stems removed, cut into small pieces
- 1½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup cream
- 1½ cup whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ strawberry lemon curd mixture
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.
- Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.
- Add strawberries into the food processor. Blend well.
- Add butter into the food processor. Mix well.
- Pour mixture into a large bowl.
- Add the eggs, 1-at-a-time, combining well.
- Add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.
- Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The strawberry lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer.
- Remove from the heat and cool, then refrigerate.
- Reserve ¾ of the mixture for your ice cream. Save the rest for yourself!
- Enjoy!
- In a large sauce pan, heat heavy cream and milk to a simmer.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs yolks and ½ cup sugar well.
- Ladle and stir milk into egg yolk/sugar mixture carefully and slowly, making sure that the eggs do not curdle. After a few ladles and stirring well, combine all the milk mixture into eggs.
- Return milk and egg mixture to sauce pan. Heat on medium heat only until a simmer. DO NOT boil, or eggs will curdle.
- Add strawberry lemon curd into milk mixture and combine well.
- Remove from heat and let cool. Chill in the refrigerator.
- Follow instructions on your ice cream maker.
- Place in freezer until ready to serve.
- Serve when needed.
- Enjoy!
This ice cream was good especially when topped with more strawberry lemon curd, and a few pieces of strawberries. I have to say that Jim pushed me into a great new flavor combination. Couldn’t have done it without him. Thanks, Jim.
Delightful! I love making ice cream. I can’t wait to make my next batch. What will it be, Jim?