Foodists

Ice Cream, Mexi-Style.

After the humiliation of the tart shell disaster a while back, I haven’t dared go near the deadly things, but at last I got over the shell-shock for a dinner party last week. It was lemon tart again, and this time I got it right: flouring the dough and board more liberally kept it from sticking and the finished shell therefore crack-free. Exciting stuff. But the real excitement was the ice cream I made to go with it.

The new, and the excitement of our encounter with it, is oft-born of unexpected necessity and so it was last Thursday. I looked in the cupboard for some of the usual chocolate with which to make the ice cream for the tart, but the chocolate, she was long gone. Except for one sole-surviving chip rattling around in the bottom of the bag. No need to name names. She who stealthily wiped out our supply knows who she is. What now? I looked up and down the shelves for a moment, wondering what I could use instead, until my eye alit on the bright yellow box of Ibarra “Sweet Chocolate” I bought last year for hot chocolate, and have for some reason never gotten around to making. Well, it all worked out fine, my friends. The extra cinnamon flavour that comes in this kind of chocolate, while it might detract in a bar of eating chocolate, was welcome in the ice cream and a wonder with the lemon tart. The recipe follows. Olé!

Ice cream, Mexi-Style

First, you need to get married so you have an ice cream maker. Then, assemble

2 pucks Ibarra chocolate
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
8 egg yolks
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Dice chocolate into small pieces, then combine cream, milk and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk almost boils and the chocolate is fully incorporated. Turn down heat to low.

Whisk yolks, sugar and vanilla until light coloured and smooth, then whisk in 1/4 cup of the the warm cream mixture in a slow, steady stream. Slowly add the yolk mixture back to the saucepan, whisking to prevent it from curdling. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon – about four or five minutes. Cool thoroughly in the fridge overnight, or over an ice bath if you want to make the ice cream right away.

Pour mixture into a frozen ice cream maker bowl, start ‘er up, and when it’s thickened appropriately – about half an hour later – transfer to a freezer proof bowl and set it for a further two hours or so in the freezer.

Enjoy!