Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream

Over the weekend, I hosted a balsamic vinegar tasting and "Iron Chef" dish competition using balsamic vinegar. With some leftover strawberries I macerated in sugar and balsamic vinegar, I made a syrup to use for ice cream.

Here's my recipe for Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream:

Berries:
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Syrup:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup strawberry preserves

Ice cream base:
3 cups half & half
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

In a small bowl, combine strawberries, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine balsamic vinegar and strawberry preserves. Bring to a boil and allow it to reduce buy half and the consistency is like a thickened syrup. Cool.
In a large bowl, combine half & half, heavy cream and sugar. Whisk until sugar dissolves.
Whisk in balsamic/strawberry syrup.
Process this mixture in your ice cream maker based on manufacturer's directions for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, strain the macerated strawberries. In the last 5 minutes of processing, add the strawberries to the ice cream and continue processing.
Transfer mixture to a freezer safe container and freeze for 2 hours to ripen.

*I'm also submitting this to the Sugar High Fridays #45 blogging event, hosted this month by Food Blogga, and originally created by Jennifer at The Domestic Goddess. This month they are featuring berry recipes and this ice cream seemed like a nice twist on the traditional strawberry ice cream. Check out their sites for the round up taking place in early August!