Another Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream

So, for reasons I won't get into right now, I made two cheesecakes, four caramel sauces, two fruit purees, and two flavored whipped creams last week. After eating six pieces of cheesecake with every possible combination of sauces I settled on what I liked. The problem was what to do with the remaining sauces and fruit purees. Of course I had to turn to ice cream.

This isn't a hard one to make, but it does take a lot of steps. Mix caramel, reduced balsamic vinegar, strawberry puree, and vanilla ice cream and bing bang boom you have a truly great result. Mrs. Fellow's one spoonful turned into a bowl's worth. It perfectly balances the flavors of every component. You can taste each flavor and yet they combine to create something entirely new.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberry-Balsamic-Caramel

Make some Caramel Sauce
Make some vanilla ice cream (either 13 EGG or the CLASSIC)

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
Don't bother with white or expensive balsamic vinegars. This is a frozen dessert, the taste will be masked by your tongue. Any supermarket brand will do. I used the one sold at Costco. If you insist putting an expensive balsamic vinegar in the ice cream, go ahead, just skip this step. Real $100+ balsamic vinegars are superior products and do not need the be reduced very much, if at all.

1 cup balsamic vinegar


1. Put the balsamic in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the reduction is so thick that you can run a spoon over the bottom and leave a temporary trail. When it cools it should be like syrup. If it isn’t, heat it again and keep going. You should have less than half a cup.



2. BE SURE TO DO THIS IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA. Otherwise, your house may smell like vinegar for a while.

Strawberry Puree:

You may need to adjust the sweetness of the berries, but be careful to minimize the amount of sugar you use. Remember that you will be adding caramel to the puree so the sweetness can get overpowering if you aren't careful. If I were pureeing strawberries for other reasons, I would probably add a bit of lemon juice for acid. This is not necessary here because the reduced vinegar will take care of the acid component.

2 pints of strawberries, stems and leaves removed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar


1. Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until boiling. Simmer until berries are soft (about five minutes).


2. Put the ingredients of the sauce in a blender and puree. Be careful and hold the lid on tight when blending hot things.


3. Pour the contents of the blender through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds.

To make the Strawberry-Balsamic Caramel:

Two things will jump out at you about this sauce. First, is that it won't be as thick as caramel, even when refrigerated. Don't worry, it works in the final product. Second, the color is dark. Balsamic does that. Don't worry, it makes a dramatic contrast to the vanilla ice cream.

1. Mix one cup of the strawberry puree with 3/4 cup of the caramel and 2 tablespoons of the balsamic reduction. You may find this easier to do if the caramel is warm.


2. Cool (if necessary), then refrigerate until cold.

Putting it all together:

1. After you make the ice cream, place about 1/3 of the finished product in the container. Spread out a layer of the caramel.


2. Repeat for the next 2/3 of the ice cream alternating with layers of the caramel.


3. Put the full container in the freezer for an hour or so to firm everything.

Strawberry-Tarragon Sorbet

We had a dinner party last weekend and Mrs. Fellow went all out. The menu was huge:

Shrimp and corn chowder
Watermelon and feta salad with Serrano Chile dressing
STRAWBERRY AND TARRAGON SORBET
Roasted leg of lamb, lyonaise pommes anna, roasted asparagus
Salad du Printemps (from the French Laundry Cookbook) - Candied fennel, rhubarb confit, mascarpone ice cream, and oranges.

I made this sorbet for the palate cleanser between the salad and main courses. It is adapted from The Sweet Life, by Kate Zuckerman. People frequently refer to sorbets as refreshing. If that is what you want, than this one won't disappoint. My daughter loves this stuff she is eating her way through the leftovers with enthusiasm.

The texture and look are very creamy despite the lack of dairy. I think you will like this one. Strong berry flavor matched with a perceptible licorice taste.

Some tips:

• You can use less than perfect berries because they macerate for a while. Just increase the maceration time if they are too tart.


• If you still find the final product to be too tart, feel free to add more sugar. However, because the mixture will be cooler and not easily rewarmed, you may want to try superfine sugar. Its smaller crystal size makes it easier for the sorbet to absorb without extra heat.

Strawberry - Tarragon Sorbet

2.5 pounds of ripe strawberries
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
2 TBL corn syrup
1 ounce fresh tarragon (left whole on the stem)

1. Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them in half. If the berries are not perfectly ripe, macerate them with the sugar for 10 - 15 minutes to get them nicely juicy.


2. Put the water, berries, and corn syrup into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the berries get very soft, about 5 minutes.


3. Add the tarragon, simmer for one more minute. Then turn off the heat and steep for 5 minutes.


4. Remove the tarragon. Puree the berries (I used a stick blender, but you can transfer to a regular blender).


5. Pass the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.


6. Cool to room temperature then chill overnight.


7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.

Sorbet Trio

Anita Chu who runs the Dessert First blog inspires today’s recipe. She made a strawberry and mango dessert for her parents’ visit. Mrs. Fellow had bought a lot of gorgeous strawberries from the local farmer’s market. I had a few mangos lying around the house for Baby Fellow who was not interested in eating them. After tasting the two together, I though that a third would better round out the flavor so I whipped a batch of lime-mint sorbet. I made the strawberry sorbet sweeter than I would have liked if it were being served on its own. The mango sorbet was left more tart to provide an interesting contrast. The lime-mint sorbet is subtly flavored with the mint to provide a clean flavor that refreshed the mouth after the sweet tart flavors of the other two.

These recipes are very straight forward so just jump right in. You’ll love them.

Strawberry Sorbet:

I am a bit vague with the amount of lemon juice in this recipe. Depending on the ripeness of your berries, you find that you need more (or less) lemon juice to balance the sweetness. In my version, I used the juice of one lemon, which was just a hair more than 2 tablespoons. Still, I left this a little sweeter than I would like if I was serving it on its own.

1 pound fresh strawberries
1 cup of water
1 ¼ cup of sugar
Lemon juice

1. Put the water and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat.
2. As the water is coming to temperature wash, stem, and hull the strawberries, place them in a blender.
3. Juice the lemon. You do not have to strain it.
4. Add the liquid to the strawberries in the blender and puree until smooth.
5. Taste the puree and add a tablespoon of the lemon juice, stir, then taste. If it tastes too sweet add another tablespoon of lemon juice. Keep going until the you like the balance. Remember, you are freezing this so leave it a little sweeter than you think it should be because the cold will numb your tongue and make it taste less sweet.
6. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.


Mango Sorbet:

It doesn’t really matter how many mangos you have or how much they weigh. The general guideline is to add half as much simple syrup as the amount of mango puree. Be sure to make enough syrup to cover the recipe and then some to compensate for less than ripe mangos.

Mangos (I used 1 ½ pounds)
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I used the juice of 2 limes)
1 cup of water
1 ¼ cup of sugar
1. Put the water and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat.
2. As the water is coming to temperature, peel the mangos, cut the flesh into chunks and place in a blender. Be sure to squeeze as much flesh as possible off of the remaining pit. Puree the mangos and place them in a measuring cup noting the amount of puree.
3. Once the simple syrup is completed, measure half as much as you have of the mango puree. In my case I had 2 cups of mango puree, so measured one cup of syrup.
4. Pu the puree and the syrup back into the blender, add the lime juice. Blend for 10 – 15 seconds to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed.
5. Taste the puree and correct the sweetness if necessary. You may need to add a pinch of salt if the mixture is too sweet.
6. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.


Lime-Mint Sorbet:

In this recipe lime juice is the star. Using fresh juice as opposed to the bottled stuff will make a tremendous difference. You need the zest of one of the limes, so don’t bother washing all of them. I use a zester that leaves stripes in the rind. It is easy, but only removes half of the zest from the fruit. So I zest two limes to make sure I have enough. Increase the amount of mint and the steeping time if you like yours more minty.

½ cup fresh lime juice (at least 5 limes)
Zest of one lime
15 sprigs of mint
1 cup water
1 ¼ cup sugar

1. Rough chop 5 sprigs of mint.
2. Put the water, sugar, and chopped mint in a small pot. Bring to a rapid boil and hold it there for 60 seconds. Turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat. Allow the mint to steep for 10 minutes.
3. Juice the limes and place in a bowl big enough to accommodate all of the ingredients.
4. Wash one lime and remove the zest. Mince the zest and add it to the lime juice.
5. Mince the remaining mint and add it to the lime juice.
6. Once the syrup has steeped for 10 minutes, strain out the mint and add the syrup to the lime juice. Stir well to blend.
7. Taste the mixture and correct the flavor if necessary.
8. Cool to room temperature and chill for at least 4 hours.
7. Freeze in your ice cream machine.