ice cream week: strawberry gelato

Strawberries may be grown year ’round in my hometown, but for the rest of the world they are truly a summer sun fruit. This recipe for fresh strawberry gelato comes from La Divina Gelateria in New Orleans… where I’m sure they refer to it as gelato di fragola as they would in Italia. And there’s really nothing better than enhancing the taste of fresh ripe strawberries than some sugar and cream… this time around all you need to do is freeze it!

You can find the recipe from Bon Appetit right here, and you’ll need to gather sugar (preferably organic), cornstarch, whole milk, heavy whipping cream, sliced & hulled strawberries, and pomegranate (or lemon) juice. This recipe involves some prepping and chilling before mixing… so make sure you start early (or late and refrigerate it overnight) so you can get the mix in the ice cream maker before bedtime!

First, you’ll need to whisk your cream, sugar, cornstarch & milk over heat to prep the base of the gelato.

Then, you’ll need to cool it over ice… which gives you just enough time to prep your strawberries!

Get ready for an ooey-gooey strawberry mess when you strain your strawberry puree! Other recipe followers have foregone this step and simply dumped it all in… and I think I might recommend that for the next go-around as well. You’ll add this to your base and let it chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge.

When your base is fully chilled, dump it into the ice cream maker and clock in another 25-30 minutes. When it has a firm consistency, empty the ice cream into your favorite container (again… I use loaf pans) and place it in the freezer to firm up fo another 3 hours.

Considering how much I love strawberries, I’m fairly certain I could enjoy a scoop of this gelato every day during the summer… every single day…