It’s strawberry season, a very decorative fruit, sweet and tangy just right, with an unmistakable aroma and color with which you can create sweet and savory dishes, from the simplest to the more articulated and complex ones. Today I propose a very easy recipe, quick to prepare, very tasty and aromatic, that is strawberry ice cream, made without adding eggs and without necessarily having to use an ice cream maker; if you have one, it’s an extra help in the kitchen. It’s a homemade ice cream, very, very artisanal if I may; for this reason, it’s healthier, “lighter” because the only fats present are those from milk, since I used vegetable cream and not animal cream; obviously, you can customize it according to your tastes and needs. Try the strawberry ice cream on Abruzzese ferratelle or on the so-called “pizzelle,” the softer version, perfect to be rolled or to create wafer cones. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Day
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1.1 lbs strawberries
- 1 2/3 cups fresh liquid cream (or liquid vegetable cream)
- 1 pinch fine salt
- as needed grated lemon zest
Steps
To prepare the strawberry ice cream, first of all, put the container or containers for the ice cream in the freezer (I used two).
Wash the strawberries, remove the green stem, and cut them into cubes.
Put the milk in a small saucepan, add the sugar, the pinch of salt, and the lemon zest which should be grated very, very finely (it will help enhance the flavor and aroma of the strawberry ice cream).
Heat it on the small burner at low flame, stirring continuously, just for a minute, the time necessary to dissolve the sugar. Be careful not to boil the milk.
Turn off and let it cool well.
When the milk mixture is cold, add the liquid cream and not whipped (make sure it’s cold from the fridge), half of the strawberry cubes, and blend for a minute, incorporating as much air as possible into the mixture.
Transfer the mixture to the containers, close them, and let it set for two/three hours at most, then you can add the remaining strawberry cubes, which in this way will not fall to the bottom but can be evenly distributed within the ice cream.
Put it back in the freezer and let it mature for at least 24 hours, as ice creams, like sorbets, get better the longer they mature in the cold.
The homemade, egg-free strawberry ice cream is low in fats and sugars and not processed like industrial or artisanal gelato, so it will be very firm. Before enjoying it, it should be left at room temperature for about 15-25 minutes (depending on room temperature) to achieve the right creaminess and serve it, but I assure you the taste is worth it.
Extra Idea.
– We can also use vegetable cream if we want, in the same amount as the fresh dairy cream I indicated. In this case, however, the amount of sugar changes from 125 grams to 75 grams (taste the mixture to see if you want more sweetness).
– We can use whole milk, or partially or totally skimmed milk. Lactose-free milk is also fine.
