Strawberry Ice Cream

Make this strawberry ice cream and you'll feel glad to be alive. The intense strawberry flavor and gorgeous deep-pink color embody Spring itself. This healthy dessert is easy enough for a week night and fancy enough for a dinner party or special occasion. Use local berries and milk if you can to support farmers in your community.

Active time: 20 minutes, plus about 40 minutes of occasional attention, depending on your ice-cream maker. Total time: 1 hour. Makes 8 servings, 1/2 cup each. Cost in April 2009: 29 cents per serving regular and 69 cents with organic strawberries and milk.

Ingredients

3 cups sliced strawberries or 3 heaping cups whole berries
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method

1. If needed, put the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer a day in advance or whatever the manufacturer recommends.
2. Clean strawberries and remove leaves and any bad spots. If you are using a blender, you may want to slice the berries one or two times to make blending easier.
3. Put strawberries, sugar, and milk in blender or food processor fitted with the blade. Process until smooth. Add vanilla and process very briefly to blend. Taste to check for sweetness and add a bit more sugar if needed. If you started with warm berries, refrigerate the mixture until cold. It will keep for up to a day, which makes this a great dinner-party recipe.
4. Pour strawberry mixture into ice-cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions.
5. Serve at once. Freeze any remaining ice cream in single-serving container. Thaw frozen servings for about 20 minutes before eating.

Tips and notes

• I love my Donvier hand-crank ice-cream maker. Just freeze the bowl at least a full day before you make ice cream. Once the liquid is in the bowl, you can crank it every few minutes while making dinner, dancing around the house, or watching TV. It's very easy to clean, too. While I try to avoid special equipment in the Cook for Good program, ice-cream makers are a good investment and are often available at yard sales or thrift shops for $10 or less. They make great presents, too ... we got ours as a wedding present over 20 years ago and it's still going strong.
• I used to only make ice cream when we had company because I didn't realize you could store home-made ice cream. But now I just freeze any extra in single-serving containers and thaw for about 20 minutes before serving. Fresh is best, but frozen and slightly thawed is still much better than commercial ice cream, especially for the ripe fruit versions.

Strawberry Shortcake

My mother-in-law made the best strawberry shortcake I’ve ever had. Crushing the strawberries releases the juice and fragrance of the berries and the tender cake absorbs the liquid. It's a lovely dessert too, one you can be proud to serve to company or on special occasions.

You can make the cake, prepare the strawberry sauce, and whip the cream the day before, then assemble the cake within an hour or so of serving.

NEW: see the plant-strong version below.

Active time: about 35 minutes. Total time: about an hour. Makes twelve servings.

Ingredients

Hot-Milk Cake
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup milk
shortening or butter and flour for greasing and flouring the pan

2 large eggs
1 cup sugar (200 grams)

1 cup all-purpose flour or white whole-wheat flour (120 grams)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Toppings
2 pounds of fresh strawberries (a little less than 3 pints)
about 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet the strawberries are) (100 or so grams)

1 cup whipping cream (8 ounces or 1/2 pint)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Method

1. Cake. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat milk until it begins to steam, then add butter to hot milk. Butter will melt. (I microwave milk in a Pyrex measuring cup for about a minute and a half.) Grease and flour an 8” square pan or a muffin tin that holds a dozen muffins.
2. Use an electric mixer to beat  the eggs on medium-high until they turn light and thick. Add the sugar and beat about 2 1/2 minutes more. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Fold sifted ingredients into egg mixture. Fold in hot milk and butter. Work quickly to keep the cake fluffy; adding flour and milk mixtures should take no more than a minute.
3. Pour into pan or muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly in pan before cutting.
4. Strawberries. Wash strawberries well. Remove tops and any bad spots. Crush or puree about half the strawberries in a blender or food-processor with the blade attachment. Slice the other half of the berries. Hold back 12 slices for garnish; stir rest in with crushed strawberries. Taste and add sugar as needed.
   
   
   
   
5. Whipped cream. Put whipping cream, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and vanilla if using into a chilled mixer or food-processor bowl. Beat on high until soft peaks form.
6. Putting it all together. Cut cake into 12 pieces. For each serving, cut cake in half cross-wise. Put bottom of cake on serving plate or bowl. Top with strawberry sauce. Put top of cake on strawberry sauce. Add more strawberry sauce and a spoonful of whipped cream. Garnish with reserved strawberry slices. Refrigerate any extra strawberry sauce or whipped cream and use within 2 or 3 days.

Tips and notes

• I used to whip cream every time I needed it until I found that whipped cream stays fluffy for days if refrigerated.
• The original recipe calls for all-purpose flour. I sometimes use white whole-wheat flour, which produces a slightly denser, slightly darker cake. It's still delicious and has the nutrition of regular whole-wheat flour.
• Use pasture-raised eggs if you have them; this cake will really show them off.
• Hot-milk cake is also good with other juicy fruit or just by itself.
• Strawberry sauce freezes well. Make a double batch and freeze one to enjoy next winter.
• Thanks so much to my mother-in-law, Catherine Watson, for making this most delicious recipe for years and for her permission to share it here.

Plant-strong version: Use 2 tablespoons flaxseed and 6 tablespoons water heated in a microwave on high for about 40 seconds, then stirred until egg-like, regular, unsweetened coconut drink in place of milk, and add an additional 1/8 teaspoon baking powder. When you beat the sugar and flaxseed together, you won't see the amazing transformation that you'd get with sugar and eggs. On the bright side, this means you don't have to fold the dry ingredients in so carefully; simple stirring will do. Use extra strawberries in place of whipped cream. Let the berry juice hide the flaxseed in the cake. I was surprised to see that I didn't miss the whipped cream!



Strawberry Vinaigrette

This fresh spring variation on raspberry vinaigrette makes a low fat, high taste topping for salads. Let it elevate a salad into a special-occasion meal by serving it over Red Sails lettuce, grated carrots, chickpeas, green onions, and raisins — topped with strawberry slices — as shown.

 

Active time: 5 minutes. Total time: 5 minutes. Makes 5 servings, two tablespoons each.

Ingredients

6 large strawberries, about 120 grams
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
pinch salt

Method

1. Rinse and hull strawberries (remove the leaves and where they attach to the berries). 
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until smooth.
3. Serve within an hour or refrigerate. Keeps refrigerated for two or three days, but best served immediately.