recipe | fresh strawberry italian ice

a cup of pure happiness... I may have found a new obsession. I have always loved Italian ice. I can clearly recall spending several summers at the town pool licking that little wooden paddle as I worked to scoop up a few of those delicate, refreshing ice crystals. You had to work carefully for fear of splitting that tiny paddle in half and then suffering the fate of inadequate scoopage. Yet, it had never occurred to me to make Italian ice at home. Ice pops, yes. Ice cream, definitely. But Italian ice... never. That was until I got my first issue of Food Network Magazine this week. There on page 96 was the most simple of recipes. Just four ingredients begging to be made.

The recipe is as simple as strawberries, lemon juice, sugar and honey. The key to the success is in the quality of fresh ingredients. As soon as I spotted the word honey in the ingredient list, I knew that I was definitely going to make this recipe. I've been on a huge honey kick. Ever since my friend at work came in bearing a gift of her family's homemade golden nectar I have been incorporating this delight into everything. So many thanks to Carolyn and Ken and their Crystal Spring Farm's honey!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can pretty much use whatever fruit is in season. Next time I'm going to add a little kiwi to my berry batch and see how that comes out. I'm also incredibly tempted to try out pineapple.

Italian Ice

makes 4 cups

3 cups of halved fresh strawberries

2 T sugar

2 T honey

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Blend the fruit, sugar, honey and lemon juice with 2 cups of ice in a food processor or blender until chunky. Add another 1 cup of ice and blend until completely smooth.

Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish and freeze for 30 minutes. Scrape the ice with a fork until slushy, then freeze until firm, about 2 more hours.