A Flavorful Chill

I've made ice cream before (I wrote about strawberry ice cream back in April), but I've never made an ice cream that was custard-based until today. Yes, it may be a little bit more trouble, but the rich flavor is worth the effort.

I started this recipe 6 hours before I needed it–any less time would have made me anxious. This recipe uses five egg yolks. I separated the egg, putting yolks in the ramekin and the whites in a freezer container for an egg-white omelet in the future.

Vanilla Bean Custard Ice Cream

2 cups 2% milk

2 cups whipping cream

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

pinch salt

1 whole vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped

5 large egg yolks

1-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, whisk together milk, cream, half of the sugar, salt, and the scraped vanilla bean (including the pod). Bring the mixture just to a boil.

2. While the milk/cream mixture is heating, combine yolks and remaining sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk until the mixture is pale and thick. This will help thicken the custard as well as give it a rich, delicious taste.

3. Once the milk/cream mixture has come to a slight boil (I watched until it started to roll slightly beneath the surface), whisk about 1/3 of the hot mixture into the yolk/sugar mixture. Add another 1/3 of the mixture, then return the combined mixture to the saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over low heat until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT boil or the yolks will overcook–the process should take only a few minutes.

4. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (toss out the vanilla pod) and bring to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

5. Pour the mixture into your ice cream freezer and follow the manufacturer's instructions. The ice cream will have a smooth, creamy texture. If you want a firmer texture, pour the ice cream into a freezer-proof container and freeze for a minimum of two hours.

I have a Cuisinart automatic ice cream maker that makes this such an easy process. So far this year, it is my favorite kitchen toy!

Hmm. Hot apple crisp with a scoop of the rich, custardy ice cream would be divine! I guess October isn't too late for ice cream after all!

Bon appetit!

Strawberry Jammin'

Okay, I didn't just look at the strawberries Wednesday--I bought one of those brimming buckets of beautiful red berries. Bonus! I also received a half bucket from the Randle Farm vegetable share I'm sharing with someone. Forget planting Sunday; I had berries to play with!

I decided my first order of the day was to make strawberry jam. If you look in our refrigerator, you will see zero jars of commercial jam or jelly, only a jar of fig preserves my friend's mother made. I switched to local honey years ago to avoid high fructose corn syrup. That can be a post for another day. Googling "making strawberry jam" yielded many results, but they basically seem to have the same steps: hull and chop 6 cups of red berries, mash berries, cook with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 package pectin (if you use pectin; I did because I wanted to be sure it was of jam consistency), bring to a boil and boil 5 to 10 minutes before adding the remaining sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice (I used fresh-squeezed), bring to a boil once more and boil 1 minute. Pour your jam into sterilized jars and seal before putting into a hot water bath.

This being my first time making jam, I didn't quite have the right equipment set up. I tried to use the pressure canner to give my 8 pints of jam a hot water bath, but the water wouldn't go 2 inches above the lids as suggested. A bit of frantic searching, which included throwing things out of a cupboard trying to find "the" item, which ended up not working. At this point the husband and the nervous dog left for a long walk. Finally, I transferred the hot water to a pasta pot and gave the jars a 5-minute+ hot water bath. A chorus of "pop, whop, pop" followed as the lids sealed.

Voila!

Family dinner was less than 2 hours away, and the planned dessert--fresh, homemade strawberry ice cream--hadn't even been started. Nor had the chickens. Both needed seasoning and one needed to be butterflied, so I started the ice cream first: Perfect No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream from Epicurious.com. We ate at 4:30 instead of 4, and the ice cream was still quite soft, but everything was yummy! The girls went home with two jars of jam each, and we still had four to put up in the cupboard. All in day's work!