Strawberry ice cream with a basil twist

Serves: 5

Don't know about you, but we just can't get enough of all the tasty, juicy, sweet strawberries in store at the moment.

We're always looking for new ways to serve them and one of our favourite recipe writers Lucas Hollweg has come up with this rather special ice cream that adds the herbal twist of basil to the mix. It's unusual, but really lovely, trust us! What are you doing with fresh strawberries this week? Do let us know.

Ingredients

• 350g strawberries, hulled and chopped, plus extra to serve juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 orange
• 1/4 tsp natural vanilla extract
• 125g caster sugar
• 150ml full-fat crème fraîche
• 40 basil leaves
• 200ml double cream

Method

1. Put the strawberries in a blender with the lemon and orange juices, vanilla and sugar and blitz to a purée.
2. Add the crème fraîche and half the basil leaves and blitz again. Tip into a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks. You don’t want it too firm – the peaks should droop when you lift the whisk.
4. Finely chop the remaining basil and beat into the strawberry mixture, along with a quarter of the cream. Gently fold in the rest, until the mixture is a uniform pink.
5. Tip into a freezerproof container, cover and freeze until solid.

Tip

Freeze the ice cream in a loaf tin and slice for an elegant pud; scatter with sliced strawberries and pistachios to serve.