Gooseberry frozen-yogurt gelato, page 174-175

Gooseberries stewing for the ice cream

Here's the sum total list o' ingredients for this dessert: gooseberries, sugar, water and yogurt. And, really, does water even count as an ingredient? Not sure.

 I stewed the gooseberries with sugar and water, then strained it through cheese cloth, stirred in yogurt and let it cool. I then waited a couple days and froze it in an ice cream maker.

 Two remarkable things here.

#1 I am using my grandma’s old ice cream maker (‘K, that’s not the remarkable part, please keep reading). Not the nostalgic, cool kind you pour salt and ice around, but her later version that you keep in your freezer. This kind of ice cream maker consists of an outer plastic case, an inner metal tub that freezes to some artic blizzard level, a paddle that sits in the tub and churns the creamy mixture, and a hand crank. You know the kind. Anyhow, I poured the gooseberry mixture in the tub, inserted the paddle, attached the crank, stirred and . . . the whole bloody tub spun right around with the paddle. Fat lot of good that does. The exterior plastic case was still-I was holding on to it. But the tub was in no way attached to the case, so it just spun around. In the mean time, the frozen yogurt is not being churned, but rather freezing hard to the sides of the tub.

Finished product, via la!

The last time I made ice cream from the book I borrowed my cousin’s ice cream maker and busted the handle off because I let the ice cream set up too much along the edges and could not crank the paddle through it.

What to do, what to do?

OK. In case there’s ever an IQ test concerning this very subject of how to keep the ice cream tub from spinning when making gooseberry frozen yogurt, I cannot personally think of a better answer than what Fred did. He lifted the tub from the plastic case, poured a little water in the case, shoved the frozen tub back in which immediately turned the water to ice and held the tub firm to the case so that I could churn the creamy mixture inside without the tub spinning. Now that’s a MacGyver trick for you, eh? I was amazed. How did he think of that?

#2 Gooseberry frozen yogurt is yummy. Really. Fred’s first bite reminded him of gooseberry pie his mom used to make he hadn’t remembered having until he tasted gooseberries again. I can imagine having a tradition of making this ice cream in the summer when the gooseberries are ripe and looking forward to the season each year. It’s almost like an Italian lemon ice only more complex in flavor, somewhat tart and sweet and creamy all at once. We all found it very refreshing and I’m sure January does not do the dish service.

 OK, to be honest, Oliver didn’t try it but he has the flu today and I’m thinking gooseberry frozen yogurt, or ice cream, or whatever you call it, is not the most appetizing sort of treat with the flu.

How's that for a fine way to end this post?