Roasted Strawberries with Rosemary and Vanilla Ice-cream

This recipe makes a rich, smooth ice-cream with a subtle, and I think, delicious note of woody rosemary, which is perfect with the tart roasted strawberries.

Place the milk, sugar, rosemary and vanilla into a saucepan over medium heat and bring just to boiling point.  Remove from heat and leave to infuse for one hour.

Whisk the egg yolks together until pale.  Return the milk to a gentle heat until warm.

Pour a little of the milk into the yolks and whisk to combine.  Discard the rosemary, then gradually add remaining milk to the eggs and whisk again.  Pour mixture back into the saucepan and return it once more to the stovetop again over a gentle heat.  Cook, stirring regularly for about five minutes or until the custard has thickened. Remove from heat, stir through the cream and freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturers’ instructions.  If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour into a container, cover and place in the freezer for one hour.  Remove and whisk to break up the ice crystals.  Repeat this process four times until frozen.

For the roasted strawberries; arrange them on a baking tray, sprinkle with the caster sugar and roast in a moderate oven (about 180C) for 20 minutes or until soft.  Serve the ice-cream with the warm strawberries.  Yum!