Strawberry Gelato

It's becoming strawberry and blueberry season.  In my world, those are two different food groups that must be consumed in large quantities during the summer months or else certain death.  Its a rough life, but tolerable.  So Costco has the larger flats of strawberries in now, so I bought one of course!  Naturally the next thing to do was make ice cream, or gelato.  I actually made it 2 weeks ago, and never got around to posting it.  Then last night Kam looked at me as I was walking into the kitchen and told me to whip some up....riiiiight.  I'll just quickly throw that together for ya babe!


What you'll need:


3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar (divided 1/2 and 1/4)
2 egg yokes
1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries 
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice


In a food processor or blender add strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Coarsely chop strawberries until you have about 1 1/2 cups.  Set aside.


Heat milk to a simmer.  In another bowl, whisk your egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.  Add cornstarch and salt.  Whisk until sugar/egg is no longer clumpy.  It will be a little dry, but if you use a whisk, it will combine.  Slowly add half of your simmering milk whisking continuously.


Slowly return mixture back into saucepan, whisking until all is combined.  Turn heat up to medium and switch to a wooden spoon.  You do not want it to boil so you may have to adjust your heat a time or two.  Keep stirring until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of spoon, 4-5 minutes.  (If it gets too hot, the egg will begin to cook.)


Pour mixture through strainer into a bowl that will fit into a second bowl for an ice bath. Add strawberries and vanilla and whisk one final time.  Transfer bowl into large bowl with ice and water and leave until mixture is cool.  About 45 minutes.  Give it a quick stir every so often to keep a film from forming on top.  Once cool, lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture.  Store in the fridge over night before adding to your ice cream maker.


I had a strawberry sauce that I had made for pancakes and stored the leftovers in the freezer a while back.  I thawed it out and we had that over our gelato.  Here is the recipe for that if you are interested, but the gelato is perfectly yummy without it!


Strawberry Sauce - (You may want to half this if you don't want a ton of left overs. Sorry, no process pictures.)


What you'll need:


5 cups crushed or chopped strawberries
1 1/2 cups water (divided)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice


Add strawberries, half of the water, and lemon zest into a medium pan and heat to boil.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Dissolve sugar in remaining water.  Remove strawberries from heat and mix in sugar water, lemon juice, and corn syrup.  Return to a boil and boil for another 5 minutes, stirring fairly often.  Allow to cool and serve with whatever your heart desires!  

Thank you Costco and California!

Not quite there....

The gelato was super light and creamy on its own, the sauce gave it an extra punch. I find the gelato be best after you remove it from the ice cream maker and freeze it for about 2 hours.  Its hard at this point but not too hard to scoop.  The next day, you may have to let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!