Ice Cream.
Cream. Milk. Egg yolks. Sugar. Flavour. So simple.
So simple... especially if you have an ice cream maker. Because, ice cream needs to be churned. It must be moved about during the freezing process to prevent ice crystals forming. Ice crystals maketh the ice cream crunchy - which is not ideal.
Ice cream should be smooth, creamy and not too hard. (It should also be spoon fed to me by a divine male, while I recline, resplendent on a chaise before a perfect sunset, while the waves whisper on the edge of my tropical island.... ).
Commercial ice cream has extra stuff added to keep everything soft and smooth. Stuff that we don't have access to... so churn we must. And then we need to eat our ice cream immediately or move it from freezer to fridge about 30-40 mins before serving to allow it to soften up.
Home-made ice cream straight from the freezer is rock hard. Which can be a good thing. Especially if you are tempted to dive into the freezer, spoon in hand, for a quick nibble on a hot afternoon. Be warned, your grazing will be thwarted, and frustration may ensue.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, then you will need to give the ice cream a quick beating as it starts to freeze, then toss it back into the freezer. Ideally you will have the patience to do this 2 or 3 times. Which means that one should not whip up a batch of ice cream last thing at night - I will get out of bed in the middle of the night for crying children, whimpering dogs, smoke alarms, and burglars. But I will not get up just to beat the ice cream.
Having said all that, home-made ice cream is soooo worthwhile. Try this vanilla bean version - it makes ordinary ol' store-bought-vanilla seem boring. Impress your dinner guests with a simple, yet sophisticated dessert. Serve with fresh summer fruits, a berry coulis, or a decadent chocolate sauce.
1 vanilla bean
1 cup milk
300ml thickened cream
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
Making ice cream this way is a bit like making a custard from scratch. And it's not nearly as tricky as it might seem.
The steps are:
1. make the custard (quick and easy, takes only about 10 mins)
2. chill
3. freeze
4. beat the half-frozen ice cream, and re-freeze
5. repeat step 4
So to begin... cut open the vanilla bean lenthways, scrape out the seeds, and toss the pod and seeds into a saucepan with the milk and cream.
Bring to the boil... this won't take long, so keep and eye on it. Turn the heat down low.
While waiting for the milk, beat (or whisk if you feel like giving your arms a work-out) the yolks and sugar until creamy.
After the milk has boiled slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan while giving it all a good whisk.
Stir over a low heat. The mixture will thicken slightly.
Remove the pods - or even better strain through a sieve - as you pour into a bowl. Cover the surface with cling wrap (which prevents a skin forming on the surface), an chill in the fridge for about an hour or so.
At this point, those with a passion for small appliances can pour the custard-like mix into the bowl of the ice-cream maker, and set to churn as per the instructions and recommendations. (You do still have the instruction book, right?!). The aim is to churn the mixure, while it freezes, and when it is about the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, transfer to a container and pop it into the freezer.
For those who like to do things the old-fashioned way, pour the chilled custard mix into a shallow metal container (think loaf tin or similar) and leave in the freezer until it is getting hard around the edges (about 1 -2 hours). Then transfer from the tin into a mixing bowl, give the ice cream a bit of a beating with a hand-held beater, transfer back into the tin, smooth down, replace foil, and return to freezer.
And you will repeat this step 2 or 3 more times.
The biggest problem with this process? The quantity of ice cream seems to shrink with every beating. Hmmm... perhaps it has something to do with my need to taste as I create. And lick the beaters. Have another taste just to make sure all is going well. Then return to freezer.
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