Vanilla Ice-cream With Balsamic Strawberries and Basil
Hubby had an old friend over for dinner last Friday, and since it was a work day , I didn’t really have much time to prepare anything . Made a quick trip to the supermarket after work to see what I could find . These lovely strawberries were on sale , picked these up and a pint of good quality vanilla ice cream .
I followed anIna Garten recipe ( love her btw ), will post the link to the original recipe . I added basil leaves coz I just had it at home . It turned out amazing . Even the Hubby who is a sworn non ice cream eater finished one portion . One full portion , in the more than a decade of married life I have NEVER seen him eating one full portion of ice cream . So this has to be something .
Here is what I did : Mixed the following : 1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar 1 teaspoon of Palm Sugar/Gur/Gula Melaka ( can use any sugar , I had palm sugar at home so I used that ) ½ teaspoon crushed black pepper ( yes you read it right…. That’s the secret )
Mix it all till it’s all incorporated.
Add this mixture to :
2 cups of thickly sliced strawberries 4-5 chopped up basil leaves.(optional )
Leave it out at room temperature for 30 minutes or more . The strawberries macerate with the balsamic vinegar and sugar and get an a lovely flavour
Serve with vanilla ice-cream .
The basil leaves can be replaced with mint leaves or thyme
This is the original Ina Garten recipe
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/strawberries-with-balsamic-vinegar-recipe.html