Strawberry And Blackberry Ice Cream With Spiced Cherry Compote

Strawberries and blackberries and cherries?  Yes of course.  Why not gild the lily, I say? :-)  Sure, it's not blackberry or cherry season but that's what freezers were invented for.  And yes it IS strawberry season here in sunny Queensland, though the ones I bought were a bit less ripe than I expected :( 

I know I've mentioned it before, but my sister and I used to pick wild blackberries for the local jam factory when we were kids, braving spiders and thorns and crazy drivers at times.  Can you imagine parents now letting their young kids go wandering off into the bush alone?  Or for that matter, can you imagine a jam factory taking in any and every berry that came their way, regardless of roadside spraying, poisons etc?  Oh, how times have changed.

oh so fruity!

This recipe is a mash-up of two recipes, one found in a book A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon, the Kiwi chef, and the other from the blog Tin and Thyme, authored by Choclette, a UK blogger.  And with a bit of extra inspo from a recipe by Joanne from the blog Olive & Mango.  The compote is a winner, my friends - a wee bit of heat, sweet with the ginger, and a little bit spicy with the chilli.  Mr. Gordon is such a clever Kiwi chap (neither a fruit nor a bird, you see).

Makes 1.5-ish Litres:

 

ingredients:

For the 2 ice cream flavours:

300 g./10.5 oz of strawberries + 250g./9 oz of blackberries

1-2 tbs white balsamic vinegar or 1 tsp rosewater

2 tsp vanilla paste or extract

2 tbs Chambord liqueur or fruity liqueur of your choice

600 mL/20 oz thickened cream

300g./9 oz condensed milk

Cherry Compote:

150 mL/5 oz white balsamic vinegar or verjuice (or 80 mL lemon juice + 80 mL apple juice)

50 mL/1.7 oz water

100g./3.5 oz caster sugar

2 cloves

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

300g./10.5 oz cherries, pitted and halved

Extra strawberries or blackberries, to serve

Dried organic rose petals, to strew on top

Method:

Chuck the strawberries, HALF the balsamic (or rosewater), and HALF the vanilla paste into a blender or food processor and whizz away for about 20 seconds till puréed

Pour out into a bowl, then throw the blackberries, the other half of the balsamic and vanilla into the blender - and whizz till you have a purée

Stir the Chambord into the blackberry purée

Beat the cream in a large bowl with electric beaters until you have pillowy soft peaks

Gently whisk the condensed milk into the cream for a few seconds, then spoon out HALF of it into another bowl

You now have 2 bowls with the cream and condensed milk mixture into which you will gently fold the strawberry purée in one bowl, and the blackberry purée into the second bowl of cream

Pour into 2 containers and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight (Choclette says she used a 1 litre container and a half-litre container - see my Notes below)

Make the compote whenever you fancy, as you will be waiting quite some time for the ice cream to freeze :-)

Compote:

Place all the ingredients EXCEPT the cherries into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer rapidly for 5 minutes

Now tip in the cherries, and simmer away for about 6-8 minutes till starting to go thick and syrupy - WATCH IT carefully as it bubbles up within seconds, as I found to my cost or should I say to Mr P.'s cost as he cleaned up the mess for me :-)

Let it cool, which was not a problem for me as I made the compote just after the ice cream, and so had 6 hours to wait - and don't forget to REMOVE the cloves

Serve a scoop of each of the lovely, pinky ice creams with the cherry compote, spooned over in a glorious pink lava - 'tra-la-la', and topped with more strawberries or blackberries or cherries if you wish to really gild the lily - and believe me, I always do!  And if feeling festive, cast on some rose petals for bling

Notes:

Choclette says you can use 2 tbs rose syrup (not rosewater) in the ice cream but I didn't have that!

I used white balsamic vinegar as I had no verjuice.  It is light and tangy and a wee bit sweet so it was perfect for the job

I used frozen cherries and blackberries, as we are mid-Winter, so too early for fresh

I just discovered that the ever-so-handy 200 gram tube of condensed milk is now only 170 grams!!  I have written an indignant email to Nestlé!

I used a 1.4L ice cream tub, plus a loaf tin that I'd lined with freezer film

Throw in a tablespoon of maple syrup to the purées if you wish for a bit of extra sweetness

strawberries ready for hulling

blackberry purée + cherries

whisk the cream to soft peaks

whip the cream and whisk in the con. milk gently

the fruit purées and the whipped cream and con. milk

tip the ice cream into the lined loaf tin

both ice creams ready for 6 hours in the freezer

ready for simmering

simmer away

bung in the cherries

oopsie!  one burnt burner

that's one tasty compote

sweet, hot, spicy - perfect

© Sherry M.