Strawberry ice-cream

Ingredients

Serves six

300g strawberries

50g caster sugar

600ml full-cream milk

2 vanilla pods

275g caster sugar

500ml double cream

12 egg yolks

Method

• Hull the strawberries and coarsely chop
• Place them in a bowl, sprinkle with the 50g of sugar and leave to macerate while you get on with the rest of the recipe
• Put the milk to simmer on a medium heat
• Split the vanilla pods into two length- ways, scrape out the seeds and add these to the sugar in a mixing bowl
• Add the empty pods to the milk
• When the milk is nearly boiling, add the cream, stir and return to the heat for a couple of minutes
• Add the egg yolks to the sugar and mix thoroughly
• Return this pan to the heat and simmer, stirring almost continuously, until it starts to thicken slightly
• When it has thickened enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, remove from the heat, fish out the vanilla pods and stir thoroughly
• Add the strawberries and juice and churn in an ice-cream machine until set

If you do not have an ice-cream machine, it is simplicity itself to make without.Pour the mixture into a deep bowl and place in your freezer for half an hour. By this time, the edge of the ice-cream should be frozen, so, using a whisk, beat these frozen bits into the rest, distributing the strawberries evenly. Replace in the freezer for a further half hour and then repeat the whisking process.Repeat at least once more. When the mixture has reached a smooth, slushy consistency, you can leave the freezer to finish the job. Remove the ice-cream from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving.