Strawberry Ice Cream

First week back at uni is never fun, starting from the waking up 5 hours earlier than normal to getting into bed at night and realising that you've barely done anything you've enjoyed the whole day. Working 9-5 hours 5 days a week this semester, I've been unexpectedly plunged into adult working life, and I've gotta say- it's not fun!

With the current hot weather, I decided to take out the ice cream machine to make some ice cream the weekend before uni started. Billions of flavour ideas went through my head, but I ended up sticking with strawberry as they're not always in season. As I'd made it before, I stuck to my old recipe with a little bit of tweaking but alas, the ice cream machine died on me some 20 minutes into churning.
I couldn't tell whether it was the machine that died or if it was that the mixture had turned too thick for the machine to rotate, but it did mean that my ice cream hadn't been mixed enough. As a result, the ice cream was quite brittle and not smooth at all as you can probably tell from the photos.

Oh well- it's a good excuse to make more ice cream! :)

Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Recipe adapted from Delicious Ice Cream

300ml milk
1 vanilla pod
4 large egg yolks
115g caster sugar
250g fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
300ml double cream

1. Pour the milk into a large heavy-based saucepan. Split open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds into the milk, then add the whole vanilla pod too. bring almost to boil, then remove from heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
2. Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until pale and mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk, then slowly add the milk into the egg mixture, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. Strain the mixture into the rinsed-out saucepan or a double boiler and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. Remove the custard from the heat and leave to cool for at least 1 hour, stirring from time to time to prevent a skin from forming.
3. Meanwhile, puree the strawberries with a blender or by pushing them through a sieve. Stir into the custard mixture with the lemon juice.
4. Whip the cream until it holds its shape.
5. If using an ice cream machine, fold the whipped cream into the cold custard, then churn the mixture in the machine following the manufacturers instructions. Alternatively, freeze the custard in a freezer container, uncovered, for 1-2 hours, or until it begins to set around the edges. Turn the custard into a bowl and stir with a fork or beat in a food processor until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Return to the freezer and freeze for a further 2-3 hours, or until firm or required. Cover the container with a lid for storing.