sparkling strawberry limeade with a salty secret
plus, a bonus recipe for no-churn strawberry swirl ice cream
i’m not much of a drink person. by that i mean that i generally prefer beer and wine over cocktails, when it comes to softs i stick with the classics, i just about never experiment with drinks at home and if all i could have to drink from here on out was water, i wouldn’t be that upset.
so it was a surprise to me when, literally immediately after she published it, i found myself on the way to the supermarket for the ingredients to make christina chaey’s rhubarb shrub. it was quick and easy, blushed a beautiful rosy shade and tasted absolutely lovely. basically, it had everything i never knew i wanted in a spring meets summer drink. i especially loved the fact that the shrub base itself was a sort of sleeping beauty that could wait just about endlessly in the back of the fridge for its first kiss of sparkling water.
after making the shrub not once, but twice, before rhubarb was no more to be found, somewhere in the back of my mind tall glasses of ice cold pink lemonade were sweating on a table and i found myself craving a sweet, tart, pink drink of my own.
as i got started, i remembered carolina gelen’s lemonade recipe that massaged lemon zest into the sugar before using it in a lemonade base and found the perfect place to start; massaging citrus zest into sugar is also great for cookies, just fyi. it was the same idea (sleeping beauty / back of the fridge / first kiss) as the rhubarb shrub, but in lemonade form. after a few experiments using strawberries, raspberries, lemons and limes, i landed on a strawberry limeade that gives the refreshingly sweet-tart, well-balanced flavor of a pink lemonade, but with a subtly salty, vivaciously bubbly edge thanks to preserved lemon paste and sparkling water.
i’m not going to lie, this is not a quick recipe. the bright color comes from a clear, bright red strawberry syrup that needs to gently cook for about 45 minutes. then the limes need juicing (which a food processor can handle quickly, but we all know not everyone has one) and the whole base needs to chill for at least 4 hours before using. however, it does last in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, so a little effort now pays off well.
the strawberries used for the syrup aren’t used in the limeade, and while they would taste great over pancakes or french toast, swirled into a bowl of yogurt, on top of cheesecake (mini or otherwise), i thought i would put them to their best possible (imho) use and include it as a bonus recipe. so, below the limeade, you’ll find my recipe for no-churn strawberry swirl ice cream—*and the crowd goes wild*.
serves 6 - 8; makes about 3 liters of limeade
for the strawberry syrup; makes about 275 ml
300 grams strawberries (the deeper, darker red your berries are, the more intensely colored syrup you’ll get; in berlin, i recommend the berries from karl’s erdbeerhof)
200 grams sugar
for the limeade base; makes about 750 ml
10 - 12 limes (you’ll need about 2 tablespoons of zest and 350 milliliters juice)
100 grams granulated sugar
1 heaping tablespoon preserved lemon paste (if you don’t have a paste, deseed finely chop about 1/4 of a preserved lemon; substitute: one teaspoon salt and an extra tablespoon of lime zest)
chilled sparkling water or club soda (substitute: chilled tap or bottled water - it won’t have that sparkle but will still taste really good)
hull and thinly slice the strawberries. add to a heatproof bowl with the sugar and toss gently just to coat the strawberries in sugar. cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set over a pot with about an inch of boiling water in the bottom. keep over medium heat (adjusting the heat to low or up to high as needed to keep the water simmering) and let cook for about 40 minutes, stirring gently halfway through. once cooked, strain into a bowl through a fine sieve and not pressing on the berries at all (save the berries for the bonus recipe below, or for spooning over yogurt, pancakes, french toast, et cetera), and set the clear red strawberry syrup aside.
in the meantime, zest 2-3 limes to get about 2 tablespoons of zest and add with the sugar and preserved lemon paste to a bowl. rub together with your hands until the sugar is very fragrant and the texture of wet sand, at least one minute. this releases the oils from the zest and will make an even more fragrant lemonade.
use your palms to roll the limes on a counter to release their juices, then slice in half and juice (i use a food processor with the citrus juicing attachment here, but you can also do this by hand, it will just take a bit longer and you might also want to strain out the pulp — that’s up to you). you should have about 350 milliliters, but if you have a bit more or less, that’s okay.
add the strawberry syrup and lime juice to an airtight container with the lime zest sugar and stir well to combine. all the sugar should be fully dissolved. cover and chill for at least 4 hours before using.
once the lemonade base is chilled, strain once more if desired, then mix 1 part lemonade base with 3 parts chilled sparking water or club soda and serve over ice; you can up to 5 parts water or soda depending on your taste. garnish with fresh lime and/or sliced strawberries, if desired.
no-churn strawberry swirl ice cream
serves 6; keeps in the freezer for up to 2 weeks
250 ml heavy cream
125 ml sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons strawberry limeade base (substitute: mashed strawberries with lime juice and zest)
150 grams reserved strawberries from strawberry syrup (substitute: finely chopped strawberries)
whip heavy cream to stiff peaks in a cold bowl using a hand mixer. fold in the sweetened condensed milk. transfer half the cream mixture into a plastic wrap-lined loaf pan (you don’t have to wrap the tin in plastic, i prefer to because i like to slice the ice cream to serve and it’s easier to remove from the loaf pan this way.)
gently fold in the strawberry limeade base into the remaining cream mixture, then pour into the mold or pan. add the strawberries from the syrup over the top and gently swirl in.
wrap the excess plastic wrap (or put a layer of plastic wrap if you didn’t line the loaf pan) over the top of the mixture, transfer to the freezer and freeze for at least 6 hrs. or overnight.
to serve, let the ice cream sit out for about 10 minutes before scooping. you can also remove the ice cream from the tin and the plastic wrap and slice into pieces to serve, straight from frozen.