About a week after Luise and I first danced into each other, we shared our first ice cream. Or actually, I don’t think we shared. I had a so co called “gelato-disorder” at the time, so sharing wasn’t really on the agenda. But we did have ice cream together. I lived in Rome when we met, and Luise called in sick from her work in Denmark and bought a plane ticket to fly back and go on a date with me. First night we had dinner. Second night ice cream.
I’m not sure which flavors I had, but a not so wild guess would be coffee and pistachio. Luise had strawberry and chocolate. I remember that very clearly because I remember thinking that she ate it too slowly (typically me), so she spilled some chocolate on her skirt. She still has that skirt and whenever she wears it, it gets me thinking of chocolate ice cream.
I would love to say that ever since then, ice cream has had a special place in our hearts. But actually, I think my love affair with ice cream stopped when my love affair with Luise begun. Don’t get me wrong, we are still quite the ice cream eaters. But it’s not extreme anymore. We stick to the good stuff every once in a while. And when we do ice cream at home, we almost always make it yogurt-based. We have a really delicious coconut frozen yogurt recipe in our dessert app. With Summer around the corner, rhubarb and strawberries are starting to pop up everywhere. So we felt almost obliged to make a FroYo out of them.
The basics behind frozen yogurt are ridiculously simple. Yogurt, sweetener and flavor. You could add one or two tsp of vodka to make it a bit softer, but we prefer using a fatter yogurt and less freezing time instead. We use an ice cream machine (not a fancy brand), it’s the easiest and best way, but you can also make it by hand.
Strawberry & Rhubarb Ripple FroYo
Makes about 4 cups (1 liter)
Time: 20 minutes prep + freezing
We prefer our FroYo slightly tart and not overly sweet. You can adjust the amount of honey depending on your preference and on the tartness of the fruit. High season strawberries and rhubarb are generally sweeter than pre-season.
½ pound (225 g) rhubarb, sliced
1 pound / 500 g strawberries, coarsely chopped
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
1/2 cup (8 tbsp) honey, preferable raw
2 cups / 700 ml organic full-fat plain yogurt (greek or turkish style)
Place rhubarbs, strawberries, vanilla pod + seeds, and 4 tbsp honey in a medium size saucepan, cover and bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the pod and use a fork or a stick blender to mash up the fruit. We like it slightly chunky but you could of course make it completely smooth if you prefer. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until completely cool. Combine yogurt, the rest of the honey and 3/4 of the fruit compote. Pour the FroYo mixture into an ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. When done, remove the ice cream paddle. Stir in the rest of the fruit compote carefully so you get a ripple effect. Pour the FroYo into a freeze proof container (we use a bread tin). Leave in the freezer until firm, or as long as you like.
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