Strawberry Gelato

It seems a little early to be talking about strawberries in the northeast — but I was cleaning out digging through my freezer the other day, and what did I find?  A container of frozen whole berries from last summer — perfect little ones that I now remember buying at the farmer’s market and freezing because we were going out of town.  They wintered in my freezer, hiding out behind a whole chicken and a container of frozen bean soup.  Not as glamorous as Miami Beach — but screw them, we all have to make it through those dark, cold days.  At least they didn’t have to wrestle with squirmy kids in car seats with bulky snow suits.

I have been planning their demise for the last few days.  What to do with them?  Make more jam to get us through the weeks remaining until strawberry season?  Leave them for yogurt or smoothies?  Throw them at my husband when he decides to get tough with our dishwasher repair person (and I have to go through more days with a broken dishwasher)?  Or ice cream?

I settled on the last option, in part because we were entertaining a dinner guest and I needed a dessert.  My husband is lucky … for now.  I decided to make gelato, which is Italian ice cream that is usually lower in butterfat and denser than typical ice cream.  Many gelato recipes do not include eggs, which makes it a bit easier to pull off in a pinch (no need to make the custard base).  I used half and half instead of milk, because I only had skim milk — but if you have whole milk, feel free to replace the half and half with that.  And I used agave nectar because our guest was diabetic, but I think honey would work equally well.  (The agave version was fantastic, however!)  The best part of gelato is that it is much better when set out to warm up a bit — so make sure you don’t serve it too frozen.

And if you aren’t lucky enough to find frozen strawberries in the back of your freezer, I think any fruit would substitute nicely.   I’ve got my eye on that bag of rhubarb that I found underneath the corn.

Strawberry Gelato

Makes about 2 quarts

3-4 cups of fresh or frozen whole strawberries, stemmed and defrosted (can still be slightly frozen, just not rock hard)
1/2 cup of agave nectar or honey
1 T cornstarch
1 cup of Half and Half (or whole milk)
3/4 cup of heavy cream
2 t vanilla extract
1 T lemon vodka (or 1 t lemon juice and 1 T vodka — or skip it, the vodka just keeps it from freezing too hard and the lemon just brightens up the strawberry flavor)

1.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together agave nectar (or honey) with 1 T of cornstarch until no lumps remain.  Whisk in half and half and cream.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat while whisking.  After about five minutes, the mixture should be bubbling slightly and thickened.

2.  Put berries into blender and add in cream mixture from step number one.  Blend on low to begin and then switch to a higher speed to puree thoroughly — about 2 minutes.  Add in vanilla extract and vodka and blend 30 seconds more.

3.  At this point, you may strain the mixture through a fine sieve if you want it entirely smooth and without little seeds.  If you don’t mind it being more “rustic,” you can skip this step.

4.  Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  The slightly frozen berries will cool it quickly, but it still requires about one or two hours in the fridge.  (If you want to speed this process up, you can fill a big bowl with ice and water and set the bowl with gelato mixture in it.  Stir frequently to chill and replace ice as necessary.  Just be careful to not get water into the gelato mixture.)

5.  Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  You can then store it in the freezer until ready to serve, although it is great just out of the ice cream maker.  Make sure when you do serve it that you let it sit out at room temperature for a bit so it softens.  Gelato should be served slightly warmer than most ice creams.