Unlike crepes Suzette or peach Melba, this ice cream is not named after any one person (so apologies if you feel your name has been taken in vain). Rather, it is my attempt to find a new name for a summery ice cream of strawberries and rosewater.
It's not altogether irrelevant though - titles of food dishes are important triggers for tickling the tastebuds. There's an apocryphal story of the restaurant that couldn't sell bouillabaisse for love nor money, but as soon as they changed the name to "fish soup", they sold out.
But back to the ice cream. I find that using two parts sour cream to one part double cream makes it less cloying. Try also to find strawberries that are really ripe and fragrant. Avoid the Elsanta variety if you can - it's the supermarkets' favourite but although the fruit ticks the boxes for size, shape, colour and shelf life, to my mind it has practically no flavour.
The rosewater adds a dash of midsummer madness. It's a question of personal taste, of course, but if you add too much, the ice cream can end up tasting like the back end of a sultan's boudoir.
Still, a rose by any other name...
Ingredients
750g ripe strawberries
2 tbsp sugar
Rosewater to taste
Fresh lemon juice to taste
500ml sour cream
200ml double cream
Method
● Cut the berries into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar. Leave until some of their juice has been released.
● Add rosewater and lemon juice to taste, but they should balance each other.
● Puree two-thirds of the berries. Mix in the sour and double cream and the remaining berries. Pour into an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
