Young pepper/pickled strawberries

By: Aaron Turner
From: Igni
Serves: 4–6
Photographer: Julian Kingma

While I don’t have a sweet tooth, I love ice cream. In the same way that most chefs love making bread, it’s the process that I find really enjoyable. We always have a few (with varying degrees of sweetness) on the menu at IGNI. After the fire and smoke of the rest of the food they feel like a pretty, fresh way to finish a meal. The centre of Geelong is full of old pepper trees, the result of a council planting initiative a while back no doubt, and the young leaves for this ice cream come from the massive established tree by the church on my way to work. Full of essential oils, the leaves have a delicate, peppery flavour when fresh that intensifies when dried out.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
	young pepper leaves, dehydrated and finely ground, to serve

ice cream

Quantity	Ingredient
275g	goat's milk
250g	jersey cream
80g	young pepper leaves
7	egg yolks
220g	sugar

pickled strawberries

Quantity	Ingredient
250g	strawberries
2 tablespoons	caster (superfine) sugar
splash	rice vinegar
1/2 bunch	shies leaves

Method

For the ice cream, warm the milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the pepper leaves, cover and infuse in the fridge overnight.

The next day, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Warm the milk and cream infusion in the saucepan to 88°C (190°F) then carefully strain, removing the pepper leaves. Pour over the egg mixture, beating slowly, until cooled, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill before pouring into an ice cream machine and churning until frozen. Keep in the freezer until needed.

For the pickled strawberries, roughly chop half the strawberries and add them to a bowl with the sugar and 70 ml (21/4 floz) water. Cover with plastic wrap and set over a saucepan of simmering water for 20 minutes, until the berries are pale and the liquid surrounding them is bright red. Add the rice vinegar then strain, discarding the solids, and leave to cool.

Once cool, place the liquid in a blender with the shiso leaves and blitz together on high for 2 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve.

Cut the remaining strawberries into fingernail-sized pieces and place in a container. Pour over the strained liquid and set aside until needed.

To serve, add a tablespoon of strawberries to each bowl with a scoop of ice cream, a sprinkle of pepper powder and a splash of pickle liquid.