Ingredients
1 punnet ripe strawberries, sliced
1 sprig thyme
100g caster sugar
2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp water
600g natural yoghurt
Zest of half a lemon
Macadamia crunch
3 tbsp macadamias, roasted, chopped
½ tsp fennel seeds, roasted
1 tsp bee pollen
1 tbsp cocoa nibs
Pinch of salt
Method
1. Place thyme, sugar, honey and water into a pot over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves, mixture boils and it becomes a light syrup. Remove from heat, strain and set aside to cool. When cool, mix in yoghurt and lemon zest. Churn in an ice-cream machine.
2. For the macadamia crunch, combine fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle, crush, and mix with the nuts, bee pollen and cocoa nibs. Place strawberries in serving dishes, scoop some ice-cream on top and cover with the nut crunch and fennel pollen. Serve.
Note: When strawberries are ripe, you really don’t want to do much to them. This is a light, summery dessert, very easy to throw together. The cocoa nibs are available from most health stores. They are essentially bits of roasted, fermented dried cacao bean. They taste like chocolate, without the sweetness, but add an awesome little crunch. The fennel gives a lovely anise flavour to the dessert. If you grow fennel at home and let it go to flower, it produces fennel pollen, beautiful yellow buds, delicate and super for adding flavour to salads, desserts and cocktails. This is just an optional extra, you could, of course, use fennel fronds.