Peppermint Gelato

From AM New York and Otto:

Serves 6 (makes approximately 5 cups)

To obtain a fresh, minty flavor, use black mint or peppermint, available at local greenmarkets. Stokes Farm, at Union Square greenmarket, is a good source.

Ingredients:
1 quart milk
2 bunches (about 1 cup picked leaves) fresh mint, washed
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 cup heavy cream
11/2 cups sugar
10 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (optional)

Directions:
1. Bring the milk to a simmer in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
2. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the mint and vanilla bean scrapings to the milk. Steep uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Strain the milk, and discard the mint leaves. Return the milk to the saucepan, along with the heavy cream and 1/2 of the sugar. Bring the mint milk to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
4. Whisk the egg yolks, the salt and the remaining sugar in a metal bowl. Slowly pour some of the hot milk into the yolk mixture, whisking to incorporate. Be careful not to add too much hot milk at once, as this will curdle the eggs.
5. Add the tempered yolks to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and a little steam starts to rise from the mixture.
6. Remove the pan from the heat, and strain the custard into a bowl. Chill immediately by placing the bowl in a slightly larger bowl filled with ice, stirring quickly to promote fast, even cooling.
7. Chill the custard in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, then process in the ice-cream maker of your choice.
8. If you want to add chocolate chips to the gelato, chill the chopped chocolate in the refrigerator, then quickly fold them into the turned gelato after removing from your ice-cream maker. Chill the gelato in the freezer afterward to firm it up.

Guinness Ice Cream

From The Boston Globe

Makes 1 quart

1/2    vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1    cup whole milk
1    cup heavy cream
2/3    cup Guinness stout
2    tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons molasses
4    egg yolks
1/3    cup sugar
1/2    teaspoon vanilla extract
1. In a medium saucepan, scrape in the vanilla bean seeds. Add the pod, milk, and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the flavors infuse for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the stout and molasses. Bring to a boil and turn off heat.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture, then slowly whisk in another 1/4 cup of the cream. Add the remaining cream in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the beer mixture into the cream mixture. Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes or until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.

5. Strain the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

All recipes adaptedfrom ”Sunday Suppersat Lucques”

Sour Cherry and Black Pepper Ice Cream

1/2 cup dark rum
2 cups dried sour cherries
16 egg yolks
10 ounces granulated sugar
4 cups creme fraiche or sour cream
4 cups homemade condensed milk, recipe follows *make recipe 1 1/2 times
4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 vanilla bean (cut lengthwise)In a small saucepan, bring rum and dried cherries to a simmer, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 30 minutes.In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and creme fraiche.
In a 2 quart saucepan, let simmer for 5 minutes the condensed milk, heavy cream, black pepper and vanilla. Strain and chill.

Stir the cherries into the chilled custard, discarding the rum. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Homemade Condensed Milk:
6 cups nonfat milk
5 tablespoons sugar

Pour the milk into a medium heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sugar and continue simmering 10 to 15 minutes or until reduced to 3 cups. Strain. Homemade condensed milk can be refrigerated up to a week.

Bacon and egg ice cream

From The Guardian and The Fat Duck

This forms part of a dessert served at the restaurant. It’s a twist on breakfast: caramelised brioche in place of toast, tomato and red pepper compote for jam, chewy salted butter caramel with wild mushrooms, and this ice cream, all washed down with a small cup of jellied Earl Grey. The idea stemmed from thinking about why some ice cream tastes of egg. I came to the conclusion that it’s because the custard is overcooked. When you cook custard, the heat makes the proteins in the egg coagulate, which thickens the mix. If you continue cooking the custard, it will scramble, with the proteins completely clumped together. Egg yolk sets at 72C. So, by cooking the custard to 82C or more, as advised in many traditional recipes, the proteins begin to coagulate. Although the custard may still look liquid, tiny clumps of protein will have formed. And so, according to the coffee bean theory, the custard will be full of little bursts of egg flavour.

All of which got me thinking about how to exploit this eggy flavour, and so this recipe was born. The other parts of the dessert (bar the caramel/mushroom dish) follow, because the ice cream needs them to deliver the full impact of the breakfast dessert. And yes, you do need this many egg yolks; use the whites to make the chocolate fondant from the March 9 issue. These quantities make around one litre.

300g sliced streaky smoked bacon
1 litre full fat milk
25g skimmed milk powder
24 egg yolks
50g liquid glucose
175g unrefined caster sugar

Roast the bacon in an oven at 180C until slightly browned. Place in cold milk and leave to marinate overnight. Tip the milk and bacon into a casserole, and add the milk powder. Put the egg yolks, glucose and sugar in a mixing bowl and, using an electric whisk, mix at high speed until white and increased in volume.

Heat the milk and bacon mix to simmering and, with the whisk still going, pour a little on to the yolks. Tip this back into the milk pan, and cook over a lowish heat until it hits 85C. Hold at this temperature for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat. Cool the mixture down by stirring it over ice, tip into a blender and liquidise until smooth. Pass through a sieve and churn.

Bill Addison’s Vanilla-Bourbon Ice Cream

From The Washington Post

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups half-n-half
1 vanilla bean
7 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup bourbon

Method
Place cream and half-n-half in a saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the cream mixture.

Add vanilla bean to the cream mixture and bring to just under a boil over medium heat. Remove the cream from the heat and let steep, covered, for 20 minutes.

Separate eggs. Combine the egg yolks with the sugar and salt in a mixture bowl, whisking until the mixture lightens. Slowly whisk in a small amount (approximately 1/4 cup) of hot cream to temper the egg mixture. Transfer the egg mixture into the saucepan with the cream and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon without running.

Remove from the heat. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Add the vanilla extract and bourbon.

Chill completely and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.