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| Raspberry Ripple Ice cream in the making |
It's February. Why on earth am I making ice cream? Because I have a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer and a great recipe. In any case ice cream warms you up. Really, it's true. OK, the reason it's warming is that the body has to produce energy to digest the protein and fat content and, as every schoolchild knows, energy produces heat. So, you see, it's good to eat ice cream in winter. Personally, I don't need any persuading.
Last year we had a glut of raspberries so bagged a couple of kilos for the freezer. The thing with raspberries is, no matter how carefully you freeze them - yes I have tried spreading them on a tray - you end up with a soggy unappealing mush when they defrost. Options for using them are limited, though I did find this Nigel Slater recipe worked pretty well. Later in the year they'd be fine in a Summer Pudding, but I needed to start clearing space in the freezer now. Making a raspberry syrup concentrates the flavour of the fruit, and it's perfect for swirling through vanilla ice cream.
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| Raspberry syrup |
Adding salt to ice to lower its freezing point was known to the Arab world as early as the 13th century. Using this technique, a container of fruit essence placed in the ice could be frozen. Fruit ices were described in Italy in the early 17th century but the first written reference to "ice cream" appears in a 1672 document from the court of King Charles II. If the recipe was written down, it remains undiscovered. A hundred years later, the French found that frequent stirring of the ingredients gave a smoother, less crystalline result. They are also credited with being the first to add egg yolks to enrich the mixture.
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| La Grotta Ices in The Observer Food Monthly |
I love ice cream but it's something I rarely buy from the supermarket as a quick look at the ingredients list most often shows sugar content way too high for my liking. When you make it yourself, you are in control. If you have a good recipe your ice cream won't be stacked with ridiculous amounts of sugar. This recipe comes from La Grotta Ices who not only use the best quality milk, cream and eggs, but make a point of adding only as much sugar as is necessary, and not a spoonful more.
I've mentioned La Grotta Ices before, so if you want some background just click on the name. I'll just say that I've never tasted better ices than those coming out of Kitty Travers' La Grotta ice cream shed. Kitty's recipe for Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, below, appeared in The Observer Food Monthly (OFM) magazine on 16 June 2013. This is the first chance I've had to follow it and I can confirm it's a great recipe.
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| Raspberry Ripple ice cream |
I made extra quantities of the raspberry syrup, and some meringues from the leftover egg whites. This gave me the opportunity to produce individual meringue desserts by lightly whipping up some cream, adding broken meringue and some syrup and freezing for later. When you want to serve them, if you have more puree, you can pour a little over the top. Note: I used dariole moulds but, if you prefer, the mixture can be frozen in a block and sliced for serving.
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| Frozen Raspberry meringue puddings |
I'm giving Kitty's recipe for Raspberry Ripple ice cream here but you can follow the link to The OFM for the original with Kitty's invaluable insights on ice cream making. Her advice to start making your mixture a day ahead does make all the difference to the result. In case, like me, you don't have an ice cream machine, I've given the instructions for making it with or without a machine.
La Grotta Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream
(Serves 12)
400ml whole milk
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
Small pinch of salt
6 large free-range egg yolks
120g unbleached granulated sugar
For the raspberry syrup (yields 430g):
400g raspberries
150g sugar
Ice cream:
Pour the milk and cream into a pan. Add the split vanilla pod its seeds and the salt. Place on a low heat and, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to simmer.
While the milk is heating, briefly mix the sugar into the egg yolks.
Pour most of the milk into the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
Return the pan to the heat and pour in the egg and milk mixture. Slowly heat, stirring constantly, to a temperature of 85C (it will start to thicken at 65C). Take the pan off the heat immediately and place it in a sink of cold water with ice cubes in it to cool the mixture quickly.
When the mixture is at room temperature, cover the pan with cling film, put the lid on the pan and place in the fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Raspberry syrup:
Place the raspberries in a bowl with the sugar and set it over a pan of simmering water. Cook until the fruit bursts and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, blitz with a hand blender and push through a sieve to remove the seeds. When the syrup is at room temperature, chill in the fridge overnight.
(Kitty suggests stirring the raspberry seeds into a jug of water, leave in the fridge until the seeds settle, then sieve. It gives you a delicious juice drink).
Next day:
Put a large, preferably metal, bowl in the freezer to chill.
Sieve the ice cream mixture into the bowl to remove the vanilla pod. Blitz with a hand whisk for 30 seconds to re-emusify.
If you have an ice cream machine: Start the machine churning and pour the mixture into the ice cream machine. Churn for about 30 minutes or until the mixture looks dry.
If you don't have an ice cream machine: Place the bowl in the freezer. After 90 minutes take it out and whisk the mixture vigorously. Repeat this procedure twice more.
Pour the syrup over the mixture, fold and swirl. Scrape into an airtight container and freeze.
The ice cream will keep for up to a month in the freezer.
