Month: September 2019

Fig Ice Cream

~ louisehad ~ Leave a comment

I am lucky enough to have a fig tree in my garden. It provides wonderful shade in the summer and this year there has been a particularly bountiful crop of sweet, juicy figs. There is nothing better in the morning to wake up and pick a fig or two off the tree for breakfast. In the recent hot weather, I was sitting under the tree and naturally thinking of ice cream and thought of how delicious a fig ice cream might be. I was lucky enough to find a David Lebovitz recipe and by the end of the day I was eating a deliciously creamy fig ice cream. Joyful!

Ingredients

  • 1kg fresh figs (about 20)
  • 125 ml water
  • 1 lemon, preferably unsprayed
  • 150 g sugar
  • 250 ml double cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

Directions

  1. Remove the hard stem ends from the figs, then cut each fig into 8 pieces. Put the figs in a medium, nonreactive saucepan with the water and zest the lemon directly into the saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the figs are tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
  2. Remove the lid, add the sugar and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the figs are a jamlike consistency. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Once cool, purée the fig paste in a blender or food processor with the cream and lemon juice. Taste, then add more lemon juice if desired.
  3. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Lavender and Honey Ice Cream

~ louisehad ~ Leave a comment

When the mercury reaches the 30s the only thing I feel like eating is ice cream! So this bank holiday weekend, I made two types of ice cream; lavender and then fig. I’m a huge lover of lavender, I think it’s both distinctive and elegant. This ice cream in my opinion is sublime! The lavender flavour is just enough to be present but not overpowering so you feel like you are eating soap. We recently visited a lavender farm near Seven Oaks and I was really inspired by the beauty of the fragrant fields and of course the abundance of lavender edible goodies. I’m still very new to ice cream making, but David Lebovitz’s ice cream recipes have so far yielded great results. My pistachio gelato which I posted earlier is his recipe as is the fig ice cream recipe to come.

Ingredients


125ml good quality honey
8g dried or fresh lavender flowers
375ml whole milk
50g sugar
Pinch of salt
375ml double cream
5 egg yolks    

Method


1. Heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender in a small saucepan. Once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.
3. Pour the cream in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
4. Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavour as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.
5. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.
6. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling, then scrape the warmed egg yolks mixture back into the saucepan.
7. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
8. Pour the mixture through the strainer and stir it into the double cream and whisk well.
9. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator.
10. The next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flower to extract their flavour.
11. Discard the flowers then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.