Strawberry Stracciatella Ice Cream

Ice cream:
4 cups (1 pound) fresh strawberries, hulled, divided
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
3/4 cup whole milk
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Assembly:
6 pizzelle cookies, vanilla or chocolate flavored
Fresh strawberries

1. Prepare ice cream: Purée 3 cups strawberries and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a food processor or blender until smooth. Strain through a sieve into a bowl to remove seeds. Chill.

2. Finely chop remaining 1 cup strawberries so that there are no large chunks. Chill.

3. In saucepan, bring milk, cream and remaining 3/4 cup sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.

4. In bowl, whisk yolks until combined. Whisk 1/3 of the boiling liquid into yolks. Return remaining liquid to a boil then whisk yolk mixture into liquid. Cook, whisking constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat back of a wooden spoon.

5. Strain through a sieve into a bowl. Cool over an ice bath, stirring occasionally. When mixture reaches room temperature, stir in vanilla extract. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight or until cold.   

6. Prepare chocolate: Melt chocolate according to directions in Chocolate Key on page 49. Stir in oil. Cool to room temperature.

7. Make ice cream: Stir strawberry purée into milk mixture. Process in ice cream machine.

8. Towards end of cycle, slowly pour melted chocolate into mixture.

9. When freezing is complete, stir in chopped strawberries. Transfer ice cream to freezer-proof container and freeze until firm.

10. Assembly: Serve scoop of ice cream on top of a pizzelle and garnish with fresh strawberries.

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