Wild flower honey ice cream

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As promised, some ice cream to go with last week’s apple cake.  If you
have an ice cream maker, this is really easy.  (Or as they would say
here, ‘super easy’.) 
I made this ice cream having had something similar at Chez Panisse (a famous Berkeley restaurant).  There it was served with roasted figs – delicious.  At home we had it with Carlo’s Florentine Apple Cake – equally delicious.  

You should use the nicest honey you can find.  If yours is too hard and
crystalline to mix easily with the yolks, first warm the jar in a pan
of hot water.  The honey keeps the ice cream soft, which means you can
serve it directly from the freezer.  The honey also prolongs the life
of the ice cream, so you can keep it for several weeks.  But you won’t
want to.

Next week’s recipe will be chosen democratically.  People here are about
to vote on all sorts of things (not Dubya though, sadly) so I wanted to
join in with the spirit of things.  Please let me know which recipe
you’d like, by Tuesday:

Option A:  Miso baked black cod (as found in Japanese restaurants)*

Option B:  Roast chicken with courgette and Parmesan stuffing

Option C:  Roasted aubergine soup with garlic cream

Option D:  Spicy butternut squash soup

Cast your vote…

* Black Cod is not actually Cod, so it’s OK to eat it.  (It’s also
called Sablefish and Butterfish.)  You could use fat fillets of any
buttery, flaky white fish instead, maybe Halibut, Haddock or Pacific
Cod.  Don’t use Atlantic Cod as there aren’t many left.

Recipe:  Wild flower honey ice cream.pdf

Serves:  8 (ish)
Preparation time:   15 mins + chilling + freezing

475 ml (2 cups) double cream
240 ml (1 cup) whole milk
6 large egg yolks
120 ml (1/2 cup) wild flower honey (runny or soft, not hard)
good pinch salt
1 tsp real vanilla extract (or less)

1. Bring cream and milk to almost boiling and quickly take off heat.  
2. Whisk together honey and yolks briefly, just until fully combined.
3. Add a ladle of the cream to the yolks and whisk.  (This is ‘tempering’ the yolks – raising their temperature so they can be combined with the rest of the hot liquid without curdling.)  Pour yolks into pan of cream and combine.
4. Over a low heat keep stirring the custard with a wooden spoon until it thickens slightly.  Scrape the spoon over the base of the pan as you go to make sure the custard at the bottom doesn’t over-cook.  It is ready when it coats the back of the spoon (ie doesn’t immediately run off).  Approx 5 mins.  Take care not to get the custard too hot or the yolks will curdle.  Eggs curdle at c.81 C (177 F), ie well before boiling point.  If the custard begins to curdle you may be able to save it by immediately pouring it out into a bowl and whisking vigorously.  (So keep a clean bowl and whisk handy.) 
5. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and salt to taste. 
6. Cool the custard to room temperature and then chill overnight in the fridge.
7. Freeze using an ice cream maker.

Learn more about honey.