Ricotta Ice Cream with Trish McCambridge’s Strawberries

I discovered Trish’s iconic strawberries in Ernie’s shop when I opened Kai. People always say I’m great at finding all the people who supply the restaurant, but in all honesty, working alongside Ernie for the last 14 years is like getting your master’s degree in fruit and veg in Galway. It makes my heart smile when young Ernest says the spuds are in again with a wink: ‘The special ones – you know the ones, Jess.’

Anyway, back to Trish. These strawberries have been grown in Furbo, County Galway, since 1940 and are absolutely beautiful. Trish is just magic with horticulture. The only other woman I know who was that good was my Granny Jean, so Trish, this recipe is dedicated to all those cold, rainy, thankless nights to grow the best strawberries on the planet. Slay, strawberry queen.

View the recipe collection here

Instructions

1.	This is a custard-based ice cream, so you need to know the golden rules of custard: use proper eggs, good cream and good sugar. But don’t freak out, this is super-easy to make.
2.	Heat your sugar, milk and cream in a medium-sized, heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat until the mixture is steaming but not boiling (very important!), stirring until the sugar has all dissolved.
3.	Whisk your egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl, then slowly pour in the warm milk and cream while whisking all the time to prevent the horror of scrambled eggs.
4.	Once combined, pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan, still on a medium heat, and stir constantly – never, ever walk away from a custard! – until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5.	When you run your finger down the middle, it should leave a clean line, like the parting of the sea.
6.	Stir in the ricotta, then strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve and discard any lumps of ricotta – you want a smooth ice cream.
7.	Cool in the fridge until it’s super-chilled, then churn it in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8.	If you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour the mixture into a large freezerproof bag and freeze it flat, then break it up and put it in a food processor.
9.	Blitz until smooth, then pour into a freezerproof container and freeze again.
10.	I freeze this in a Bundt tin because as a kid I loved the ice cream cakes you could buy in the supermarket in the 1980s, along with a box of Miami wine coolers and a pack of Winfield Blues.
11.	Anyway, if you’ve used a Bundt tin, remove the ice cream from the freezer 5 minutes before turning it out of the tin onto a large serving platter.
12.	Fill the hole in the middle with the strawberries and scatter them all around the sides.
13.	Drizzle with the peppery olive oil and scatter over some torn fresh basil or lemon balm.