Lemon Basil and Palm Sugar Ice Cream

I love this time of late summer. I have so many good things growing in my garden and what I don't grow myself is available fresh and flavourful from practically anywhere: punnet of raspberries, cobs of corn with their dangling green silk, juicy ripe peaches that always manage to drip juice down my chin, bowls and bowls of gorgeous yellow and red cherries, tomatoes in every shape and colour and beans and peas and lettuce. Oh my. I have such trouble deciding what to make and what to eat and what to write about first. I've decided to solve my own little dilemma by doing what my mother would never let me do as a child and that's have at the desert first.

Know you all know about the crazy amount of basil growing in my garden. I trimmed it back heartily last week when I made fresh pesto, and this week, it was as big and bushy as ever so I had to find more stuff to do with it. I'm never one to apply limits and restrictions on what should or should not be done with particular ingredients. At least I hope that's the sort of cook I am, although I suppose everyone has their own biases and preconceptions about all sorts of stuff so I'm sure there I must have some culinary blind spots. Thankfully the use of basil to make ice cream is not one of them. otherwise I would never have tried this and found out how bloody much I love it!

On a very basic level there are two methods for making ice cream: French style, and Philadelphia Style. The first is very rich and silky and creamy and also has about as much fat as a good dose of hollandaise! That's because it's made with cream and quite a lot of egg yolks. While I have made French style ice cream in the past and I love it, it's a bit too heavy to eat as much as you (okay, I) want so I opted to make Philadelphia style instead, which is made with just milk (or cream) and sugar. If you're more of a creamy French style fan, you could easily adapt this for use with a basic french style ice cream recipe.

This ice cream is lemony in a green sort of way. It's fresh and herby tasting with just the barest hint of bite that you get with lots of fresh basil. If you want a bit more bite, try substituting part of the lemon basil with Thai basil. You could also make a fully Thai version by using Thai basil and lemongrass instead of lemon basil and lemon. And while you're at it, substitute coconut milk for some of the cream or milk. Also, I used palm sugar instead of regular white sugar. The palm sugar has a distinctive taste all its own. Not quite like brown sugar, but not exactly unlike it either. It's also a very Thai ingredient and its subtle, complex and sweet flavour goes beautifully with the lemon basil and zest.

Lemon Basil and Palm Sugar Ice Cream

(makes 4 cups)

• 2 cups light cream
• 1 + 1/2 cups milk
• 75 grams palm sugar (about 3 disks, if you buy it in that form - it comes about 8 disks to a bag)
• 7 or 8 large sprigs very fresh lemon basil, stalks and all
• peel from 1/4 lemon (all traces of white pith pared away)

Simmer cream, milk and sugar together over low heat until sugar completely dissolves, after a couple of minutes in the hot milk, the sugar should break up pretty easily with a fork. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add lemon and basil and simmer for 30 minutes more. Strain the herbs out and put the milk mixture int a cool bowl and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Process in your ice cream maker. Serve with sugared basil leaves or candied lemon peel. Or both. Or neither.

Comments

[Rosa]

I love the ingrdients used to make this special ice cream! It looks very delicious...
I'll have to try it once.

[connie]

i'm glad your experiment proved fruitful. it's always great to learn new ways of using your favorite ingrediants. well done!

[Lydia]

Hooray -- a great recipe for using some of my huge harvest of the lemon basil that's taken over my herb garden this summer.

[Rachael]

Seriously doll-face. Are you trying to drive me to eat my weight in frozen dairy delights?

I wonder. I really do.

This just looks and sounds TOO divine.

[Corey]

Can ya grow chocolate for next years icecream treats?
:-)
Corey

[Heather]

Well done! My mouth is already salivating! It's hot here from June to December so this ice cream with herbaceous tones will certainly cool us down! Cheers!