Roasted Strawberry & Meringue Ice Cream

Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour, surprises us today with a strawberry ice cream with a very intense flavor, thanks to the fact of incorporating roasted strawberries. In addition, the ice cream is accompanied by meringue, so this tempting refreshment becomes a treat you can't miss. Let's go for the recipe!

We're in the best season to enjoy strawberries and what better way to do it than transformed into a cool dessert. A cup of strawberry ice cream for those moments when the sun begins to show itself. But watch out! This won't be any ordinary strawberry ice cream, since the roasted strawberries will give it a much more intense flavor. I assure you that if you dare to try it, you won't go back to traditional strawberry ice cream.

But if the ice cream itself weren't enough, we'll pair it with a bed of semi-whipped cream with meringue chunks that will give it a crunchy touch and to which we'll also add a handful of roasted strawberries. Pure indulgence.

Roasting strawberries is simpler than it might seem at first glance, because the delicacy of this fruit doesn't prevent it from being baked and producing a spectacular result. You just need to clean, chop and coat with sugar and a few drops of lemon juice. The heat extracts the strawberry juices and caramelizes the sugars, turning that mixture into a kind of dense syrup with an intense flavor, with strawberries that melt in the mouth.

We'll make the ice cream with the crushed roasted strawberries and a base cream of egg yolks and cream, or if you prefer to sacrifice a bit of creaminess for the figure, with a 50% milk and cream mix. And we'll use the ice cream maker from our Kitchen Aid , which now that good weather is starting at home becomes a dessert regular, because in 20 minutes we have a nearly ready creamy ice cream.
Let's go with the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (for a little more than 1 liter of ice cream)

For the roasted strawberries:

1 kilo of strawberries cleaned, chopped and hulled (ripe but firm)
100 gr. of sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon juice

For the ice cream:

500 ml of cream (or 250 ml of whole milk and 250 ml of cream)
3 egg yolks
100 gr of sugar
30 gr. of cornstarch (2 tablespoons)
500 gr of crushed roasted strawberries
30 gr. of invert sugar or mild honey
1 tablespoon of vodka

For the strawberry meringues:

115 gr. of egg whites (about 3 large whites) at room temperature.
225 gr. of granulated sugar.
A pinch of salt.
A handful of freeze-dried strawberries crushed in a mortar (optional).
A few drops of strawberry extract
A few drops of red coloring for the meringues (optional).
250 ml of 35% fat cream for assembling the cup

PREPARATION

We begin by roasting the strawberries:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, top and bottom heat.

Thoroughly clean the strawberries under running tap water, remove the hull and cut them in two or four if they are very large.

In a bowl mix the sugar and lemon juice. Coat all the chopped strawberries with this mixture.
Arrange in a single layer on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or, as in my case, in a large ovenproof dish.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Transfer to an airtight jar and when they have cooled, cover and refrigerate. They keep for at least a week in perfect condition and besides for this ice cream, they'll also serve to accompany our yogurt, pancakes and other desserts. Delicious.
For the ice cream, remove half of the roasted strawberries and crush them. Reserve the rest.

For the meringues:

Preheat the oven to 150ºC and line 2 baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.
Place the egg whites with a pinch of salt and the sugar in a bowl over a bain-marie, stirring constantly with a whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Be careful that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl holding the whites so as not to cook them.
When the sugar has completely dissolved, which we will check by rubbing a bit of the whites-and-sugar mixture between two fingers and finding no graininess, transfer it to the Kitchen Aid bowl and whisk with the balloon attachment, first at speed 2 for one minute and then quickly increase the speed to maximum, whisking like this for about 14-15 minutes until they are cold, glossy and well whipped. A couple of minutes before finishing whipping the whites, add the flavoring and coloring if using.
Spoon large dollops of meringue onto the baking paper, about 6-10 cm wide by 2-4 cm high.
Put a handful of freeze-dried strawberries in the mortar and crush them into crumbs. Sprinkle over our meringues.
Bake for at least an hour and a half, until the meringues are lightly golden. Turn off the oven and leave them inside overnight or until completely cooled. Ready
A trick to know if the meringues are fully cooked is to check that they can be detached from the parchment paper.

Now for the ice cream:

Put the cream or the milk with the cream in a medium saucepan (reserving a small glass to dissolve the cornstarch), the sugar and the invert sugar, until it begins to boil.

In a bowl lightly beat the yolks
In a glass, dissolve the cornstarch in the reserved milk or cream and add it to the yolks mixing well.
Pour the boiling milk and cream over this mixture, stirring constantly so it doesn't curdle.
Strain the mixture to remove any bits of cooked egg skin, and bring back to medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens slightly. You know it's ready when running your finger across the spoon leaves a mark.
Remove the custard from the heat, add the roasted strawberry purée and the tablespoon of vodka and mix well.
Now chill the cream in the fridge to cool it for at least 24 hours before taking it to the ice cream maker.
Take it to the ice cream maker and churn for about 20 minutes. At that point add half of the roasted strawberries we had reserved (about 250 gr), but without the liquid that accompanies them, otherwise we risk watering down our ice cream too much and making it lose creaminess.
Once the strawberries are incorporated, continue churning with the ice cream maker for about 8-10 more minutes.
Done, we should store our ice cream in the freezer in an airtight container, and consume it as soon as possible so it doesn't lose creaminess and doesn't harden too much and crystallize.
That said, take it out 10 minutes before consuming from the freezer, otherwise it will be very hard.

For those who don't have an ice cream maker, you can also prepare the ice cream, but in this case once the final cream is ready, put the ice cream in the freezer for half an hour, take it out and beat it to avoid crystallization. Repeat this process at least 3 or 4 times, every half hour.

For assembling the ice cream cup:

Semi-whip the cream with the balloon attachment of our Kitchen Aid. Break the meringues and distribute over the semi-whipped cream, integrating the meringue pieces well.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of this mixture to the base of the cup where you'll serve the ice cream. Top with some pieces of roasted strawberries without the juice, so they don't water down the cream, and place scoops of roasted strawberry ice cream on top. Crown with a few mint leaves, which will add contrast of flavors and freshness, and a fresh strawberry.

Enjoy.

Tips:

- The meringues serve to use up the egg whites from the ice cream yolks, but if you want to save yourself the work, you can also buy them.

Virginia