Strawberry And Black Pepper Ice Cream

Puree the whole strawberries with the salt and lemon juice in a processor. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs until thickened. Set aside.

Bring the half and half to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Slowly beat the hot half and half into the eggs and sugar mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan over low heat. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens slightly. Do NOT let the mixture boil, or the eggs will "scramble."

Remove from heat and pour hot custard into a large, clean bowl. Allow this to cool slightly, then stir in 2 cups of the strawberry puree (reserve about 1/3 cup), cream, vanilla and 2 teaspoon of the pepper (reserve 1 teaspoon). Cover, and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Add the remaining 1 teaspoon pepper to the remaining 1/3 cup strawberry puree and 1/2 cup chopped strawberries and refrigerate separately.

Before using in your ice cream machine, stir the chilled custard. Use in machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

In the last minute or two of the machine's cycle, add the remaining chopped and pureed strawberry/pepper mixture to the machine so it doesn't blend, but will remain as a "ribbon" in the finished ice cream.

Finished ice cream will be soft-serve texture, so freeze for at least 2 hours more for hard ice cream. Enjoy! You can remove the pepper for a fabulous strawberry ice cream recipe.