Wednesday June 30th

Day 72

The final thing I did last night before going to bed at nearly midnight was to whisk up the semi frozen strawberry ice cream - for the fourth time since I made it at 6 0‘clock. In the absence of an ice cream churner it’s the best way to break up the ice crystals. All this beating every hour or so takes much longer than the recipe itself which is as easy as winking. It’s Nigel Slater’s - but the vanilla is my addition.

Slice up 500g of ripe strawberries.

Cover with 100g of icing sugar and leave for an hour to macerate.

Whisk 300 ml of double cream till it drifts in very soft peaks.

Whizz the strawberries in a blender.

Swirl this liquid lake into the cream along with a teaspoon of vanilla essence - it turns surprisingly thick.

Pour into a shallow plastic container with a lid and put in freezer.

Do the beating thing every hour or so or till it’s time for bed.

Actually I like this best at about the third whisking, when it’s semi-freddo- like creamy pink snow.