Strawberries on the Allotment = Strawberry and Coconut Ice Cream!

When you have an allotment it seems that everything starts producing at once making it easy to get overwhelmed.  However this immense movement usually starts from the middle of July.

It is nice therefore to have something to collect from the middle to end of June depending on the weather.  Last weekend we went up to plant, weed and sort out the established plots and to prepare the new part of the plot and when we drove up we could see the most amazing sight.  Strawberries!!!

This is the second year I have had strawberries on the plot and last year we only got one or two so we were jumping with joy at a decent amount with the promise of loads more to come.

I had recently seen a recipe on Facebook for a coconut and pineapple ice cream and this let me to try to make something similar.  I was also influenced by the fact that I had a container of Coconut Cream in the larder!

Ingredients:
1 595gm container of Coconut Cream

some freshly picked, washed and drained strawberries

1 Tbsp Blue Agave syrup
35ml coconut rum

Method:

* Empty the Coconut Cream into a large bowl and whip with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
* In your blender put most of the strawberries, blue agave syrup and coconut rum and blend.
* Pour the strawberry puree into the coconut cream and mix together. I like to leave it a bit rippled because it looked so pretty.

* Add 3-4 chopped strawberries.

*  and put into a freezer safe container

* Freeze for at least 5 hours.
* Take out of the freezer about 5-10 minutes before serving and serve in pretty glass dishes with a sprig of mint and slice of strawberry for decoration.

I am linking this post to Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream at Kavey Eats

Unconventional Trifle

I wanted to use up some of the left over cake from the Total Greek Yoghurt cake Masterclass (not being one to sanction waste) and thought a trifle a perfect idea.

I put pieces of cake in the bowl, poured a decent amount of sweet sherry over it and sliced a punnet of strawberries over the top.
 

Raspberry jelly allowed to cool slightly and poured over the top. Put in the fridge overnight to set.

 

I have always made my custard in a pan on the stove but noticed microwave instructions on the pack so decided to try it. I will be going back to the conventional stove top method in the future. The custard refused to set and stayed unset.

 

With unset custard I decided to be unconventional and put the whipped cream on the trifle and pour the custard over the top when serving.
 

Looked strange but tasted absolutely lovely, sometimes you gotta think outside the box!!