Strawberry Meringue Ice Cream

My sous chef

My daughter is currently going through an obsession with 'I Can Cook' on CBeebies.  Before, she'd just watch whatever was on, but now we have to rely on Sky Plussed episodes of the Fragrant Katie and her band of merry helpers.  I feel like I've done nothing this past week but watch 'I Can Cook' (I've only seen about three episodes, but it feels like a hundred).  So I figured that alongside the weekly ritual of making some small biscuits or cake, we'd give the Strawberry Meringue Ice Cream a go.

Of course, it not being strawberry season, we stumbled at the first block with the strawberry mashing.  Miss A was given a large bowl, four strawberries cut in half and the potato masher.  They just got chased and chased around the bowl until I turned my back to whip the cream.  Less than thirty seconds later, the bowl was nearly empty and I had a suspicious looking toddler with strawberry juice running down her chin.  As fussy as she is, my daughter adores her fruit.

Broken whisk :(

We ended up squishing the strawberries by hand.  An activity in hindsight that I wouldn't do again as once frozen, the lumps were very icy.

During this escapade, my expensive (well £11) dishwasher-proof, hard-anodized-saucepan-safe whisk decided to fall apart.  Not a happy mummy.  Still, the cream was just about whipped.

I'm not sure if I'm a fan of no-churn ice-creams or not.  I've made them before from a recipe on the Good Food website.  The first time I made it, it was okay.  The second time, using the exact same recipe, I found it greasy.  Today's effort was a little greasy, but the fruit and meringue helped detract from it.  It was a rich, easy recipe that did what it said on the tin.

In essence, it's really just frozen Eton Mess.  With the mood I was in this morning, it was lucky to make it to the freezer.  The recipe says to freeze it for two hours and then temper in the fridge for half an hour.  I found it was still soft enough to scoop after two hours without the need to temper.

Finished ice cream with Waitrose choc chunks

All in all, not bad.  For a quick, simple, faff free ice-cream, I'd probably do it again if I didn't have time to nip to our local farm shop for some.  But in lieu of an ice cream maker (I'd so love a proper CuisineArt one), the next best thing to proper home made has to be Marshfield Farm ice cream which is made just down the road from here.  I'm not sure where it's stocked nationwide, but if they sell it near you you so have to try it.  Especially my favourite - blackcurrants and clotted cream.  Slurp!

As for Miss A's opinion?  She absolutely steadfastly refused to touch it.  But she ate the rest of the strawberries :)

Recipe - serves 2 to 4 (or one!)

• 125ml double cream
• 2 heaped dessert spoons natural yogurt
• 2 level dessert spoons icing sugar
• 4 large strawberries
• 1 meringue nest or 4 mini meringues

1. Whip the cream then stir in the yogurt and icing sugar.
2. Mash the strawberries and crush the meringue.  Swirl through the cream mixture.
3. Pour into a freezer proof container and freeze for at least two hours.
4. Temper in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving (although you may not need to do this step)