The sourness from the lime slime oozes into the spicy ginger and boozy-sweet apple in this ice cream, making for a superb dessert tribute for a bunch of 80s children to enjoy on Halloween as they rewatch Ghostbusters for the hundredth time and cry about how how old they are.
A lot of times home made ice cream freezes too solid and requires some time out of the freezer before it can be scooped. For those uninitiated to home made ice cream, it’s a hard first lesson to take. One of the reasons this happens is because most home ice cream makers aren’t able to churn enough air into the mix before running out of space in the machine. A trick learned from the genius Nigella Lawson is to take the extra step to whip the cream before adding it to the cooled custard in order to incorporate extra air into the ice cream before freezing it. Fat, sugar, and alcohol also help to keep ice cream from freezing solid after it’s frozen in the freezer. This recipe does have a higher portion of fat but it’s worth it and it’s not too sweet, allowing the spiciness of the ginger to come through. The Calvados is optional, though apart from being delicious, the alcohol will help to create a softer texture.
Ginger Ice Cream Recipe
Makes approximately 1 1/2 litres
Ingredients:
100g fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly sliced
500ml whole milk (3.8% M.F.)
6 large egg yolks
125g granulated sugar
200ml whipping cream (35% M.F.)
1-2 tablespoons Calvados (optional)
In a medium pot boil the ginger in water for 2 minutes then drain, discarding the ginger water. This will kill the enzymes in the ginger that could potentially curdle the custard – a crucial bit of information taken from ice cream master David Lebovitz.
In the same pot as the drained ginger, add the milk and heat to just steaming, before it reaches the boiling point. Remove the pot from the heat and leave to steep, covered for 30 minutes to an hour.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and thick ribbons fall back onto themselves when you hold the whisk above the bowl. Slowly whisk in the warm ginger-infused milk then strain the custard mixture back into the original pan, reserving the ginger. On low heat cook the custard, stirring constantly for approximately 10 minutes until thickened and just starting to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Strain the custard back into the bowl and return the ginger pieces to the mix. Leave to cool slightly before covering and refrigerating to cool completely. If you’re impatient you can place the bowl of custard in a second bowl filled with ice, stirring the custard until it’s completely chilled.
Once the custard is cold, discard the ginger and gently whip the cream to thicken it to the same consistency of the custard. Add the thickened cream and the Calvados (if using) to the custard and freeze in your ice cream maker.
Lovely! I’ve been having a bit of a ginger fetish recently and this sounds like yet another way to use my favourite flavour.
My daughter is a HUGE Hannibal fan and she knew I would like watching it just for the food scenes alone…well done!
Hannibal is such a fun show and it’s totally a foodie show! I know people who skip through the gore just to get to the food. I of course just assist whenever I can – Janice Poon is the food stylist on the show and she’s amazingly talented. You can check out her blog on the behind the scenes action here: http://janicepoonart.blogspot.com.