Dabbous's Strawberries With Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream
-
60 minutes prep time
-
30 minutes cook time
-
Intermediate
To top off a week of Dabbous recipes, this delightful take on strawberries with cream is simply perfection. The flavours of Mara des bois strawberries and Tahitian vanilla pods are carefully paired together for a winning combination.
This is unquestionably my favourite ice cream. Tahitian vanilla is excruciatingly expensive but worth every penny. The taste is more marshmallow-like, virginal and rounded than that of Madagascan vanilla, which tastes positively medicinal alongside. Mara des Bois strawberries, at their best, have a floral violet aftertaste and a sweetness beyond most other varieties.
This recipe is taken from the beautiful, recently published Dabbous: The Cookbook. Many thanks to Dabbous Restaurant and Bloomsbury Publishing for sharing such a delightful recipe with us.
For the Tahitian vanilla ice cream Serves: 8
- 1 litre milk
- 300ml whipping cream
- 100g dextrose
- 30g milk powder
- 4g ice-cream stabiliser
- 1g xanthan gum
- 100g caster sugar
- 100g liquid glucose
- 1 Tahitian vanilla pod, slit open lengthwise, seeds scraped out
For the strawberry juice
- 500g strawberries
- 250ml water
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 lemongrass stick, bruised and chopped
- ½ vanilla pod, slit open lengthwise
- 30ml lemon juice
To assemble
- 32 Mara des Bois strawberries, cut in half, plus 8 small strawberries, stem on, to decorate icing sugar
- Lemon juice
- 24 basil leaves
Tahitian vanilla ice cream
- Put the milk and cream in a pan and heat to 84°C.
- Add all the powders, plus the sugar and glucose, and combine with a hand blender to dissolve.
- Add the vanilla pod and seeds, remove from the heat and transfer to a container.
- Cover with cling film and leave to cool.
- Leave to mature in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, remove the vanilla pod and blend the mixture with a hand blender to emulsify.
- Pass through a fine sieve.
- Churn in an ice-cream machine, then transfer to a chilled container and store in the freezer.
Strawberry juice
- Purée the strawberries in a blender until smooth.
- Pass the purée through a fine sieve.
- Bring the water and sugar to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the lemongrass and vanilla.
- Cover with a lid and leave to cool.
- Add the strawberry purée and lemon juice and chill overnight.
- Pass through a fine sieve and store on ice for 30 minutes before serving.
To assemble
- Remove the ice cream from the freezer and beat it to soften it a little.
- Season the strawberries with icing sugar and lemon juice, then leave for 2 minutes to macerate.
- Divide between 8 glass dishes, top with the basil leaves and spoon over a little of the strawberry juice.
- Place the ice cream in a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe on top.
- Top with the strawberries with stems on.
- Serve with a jug of strawberry juice alongside.
Extract taken from Dabbous by Ollie Dabbous, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, £50.00, Hardback.
Photography © Joakim Blockstorm
