Finally

I know, I know. I've been away from this little space quite a bit these past couple of months. How terribly neglectful of me. Seriously, I really do feel guilty when I let too many days pass between posts!


I just came back from an amazing long weekend in Vancouver spent with my siblings, cousins, and a couple of friends. It's been a busy summer, especially travel-wise, but it looks like things are quieting down a bit ... at least for now!





So anyway, back in June - can you believe it's already August?! - I made something that I was so eager to share with you. I very much wanted to tell you about it right away, and oh-my-my, look at that, here it is, only two months later.


It all started at the end of May. I read this post by David Lebovitz and couldn't get it out of my mind. I don't (make that didn't) even like mint ice cream, but something about David's post was just so compelling!





So compelling, in fact, that I convinced myself it was high time I started growing my own mint (not very easy to get a hold of bunches of fresh mint around here, you see). The thing is, although mint has a way of very quickly growing out of control, if you buy a fresh plant from a nursery, it usually starts out pretty small - which means that you're going to have to wait if you need 2 cups' worth of leaves.  Wait?  Horrors for make-mint-ice-cream-NOW-obsessed-me.


Luckily, just a few days after the aforementioned article, my friend Nerissa gave me some herbs from her garden - and guess what, she handed me a truckload of mint! Actually, I think that her poor mint plant might still be reeling from the buzz cut she gave it that day, although she is too nice to admit it.





Armed with mint-a-plenty (and blissfully unaware at the time that Nerissa's plant would be traumatized by its loss) I gleefully trotted home and wasted no time in making that compelling mint ice cream. Every so often I would take a whiff of the custard. And then I would squeal, "Eeee!  Fresh mint ice cream!" immediately followed by, "Please don't taste like toothpaste. I'll be terribly disappointed. Terribly disappointed." Yes, I talk to food, but let's not talk about that right now.


The verdict? Pure deliciousness. This is what happens to mint ice cream when it grows up and becomes sophisticated, elegant, high class. It has no insecurities and therefore feels no need to be shockingly green, or even any kind of green, for that matter.  This breed of mint ice cream is confident, because it knows that it will first be creamy and subtle and luxurious on your tongue, and then it will leave you with a cool, lingering freshness in your throat and mouth.  Incredibly fresh, almost haunting, unmistakably mint.  Not mint toothpaste.  Just mint.


The version that inspired me was scribbled with chocolate, like stracciatella, but I had bittersweet hot fudge sauce on hand, so I decided to omit the chocolate in the ice cream.  I love chocolate, but I wanted the mint to shine through - and I figured that chocolate both in the ice cream and over it would be overwhelm the mint.  Striking chocolate sauce meets sophisticated mint: I didn't regret it one bit.

Mint Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

Combine in a medium saucepan and heat until steaming:

  1 cup whole milk

  150 g sugar (¾ cup)

  1 cup heavy cream

  pinch of salt

  2 cups packed fresh mint leaves

Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Let the mint steep in the saucepan, covered, for about an hour.  Don't skip this step, because you want the mint to really infuse the cream.

Strain the mixture into an empty bowl, pressing the mint leaves to get every last bit of cream.  Discard the leaves and pour the mint-cream mixture back into the saucepan. Turn the heat to medium to rewarm the mixture.

Meanwhile, in the bowl that you just emptied, place:

  1 cup heavy cream

Gently whisk together in another bowl (a medium one will do):

  5 large egg yolks

Take about a cup of the heated mint-cream and slowly pour it into the eggs.  This tempers the eggs, slowly warming them up so that they don't seize up and scramble when you add them to the heated cream.

Now pour the warmed egg mixture into the saucepan to join the rest of the heated mint-cream.  Take care to whisk constantly but gently, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.  An instant read thermometer will read about 170ºF.  Don't let it go above 190ºF or you'll be in trouble (i.e., you'll probably end up with mint scrambled eggs).

Strain this heated egg-cream-mint-mixture - a custard, really - into the large bowl of cream that you prepared earlier, then place that bowl over an ice bath, stirring constantly until cool.

Refrigerate this custard overnight to let it really cool down.  Churn it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  You will likely need to freeze the churned cream for at least a couple of hours until it firms up.

If desired, serve with chocolate sauce, or with some dark chocolate on the side.  Mint and chocolate make a very happy couple.

Makes about 1 quart (1 litre)