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Monday, September 6, 2010

Basil Ice Cream & Giveaway Winner!

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First things first, the giveaway winner...

Picked through a random number generator, the winner of the Flip It Pan is SpaBettie (comment #12: oh, I would LOVE this... I am horrible at making pancakes, and I am CERTAIN this would do the trick!! :) 
my favorite pancake recipe is made with vanilla protein powder, and I add blueberries. YUM.). Spabettie, email me (natalie.mclaury@gmail.com) with your address and Teflon will ship your new pan out to you. Enjoy! I hope it helps you make perfect pancakes :)

Ever since we went to Farmhaus when my grandparents were in town a few months ago, Ryan has had basil ice cream on the brain. You see, that's where we first witnessed the amazingness that is basil ice cream. I know it sounds weird, even to a basil-lover like myself, but the herbed ice cream works quite well with fruity desserts. At Farmhaus, they paired a lemon dessert with their basil ice cream and Ryan was intent on recreating this for his birthday Cork & Fork dinner. (I guess it's a good thing I received an ice cream maker just in time, huh?!)

While Maggie and I prepped this ice cream, Ryan hovered around us nervously. I have to admit, it was with good reason...we started to wonder whether we'd cooked the egg yolks and ruined our mix! Granted, Ryan was more concerned with whether or not the ice cream was going to have enough basil flavor. He fought to add more basil to the mixture but we convinced him to let us follow the recipe.


Sure enough, after freezing in the ice cream maker and then overnight in the freezer, the ice cream donned just the right amount of basil flavor. It was noticeable without making you feel like you were chewing on a bunch of basil leaves. Paired with the lemon tart, which I'll post tomorrow, it was a, or should I say Ryan's, dream come true!


One Year Ago: Greek Salad and Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake


Basil Ice Cream
from epicurious.com


Ingredients:
-2 cups whole milk
-3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
-1/2 cup sugar
-4 large egg yolks
-1/2 cup well-chilled heavy cream


Directions:
1. Bring milk, basil, 1/4 cup of sugar, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
2. Transfer mixture to a blender (reserve saucepan) and blend until basil is finely ground (1 minute).


3. Beat together yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl with a mixer until thick and pale (1 minute). Add milk mixture in a stream, beating until combined well.
4. Pour mixture back into reserved saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture coats the back of a spoon and registers 175F on a thermometer (do not bring to boil!).

5. Immediately remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice water and stir until cold, 10 to 15 minutes.


6. Stir in cream and freeze in an ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden (at least 2 hours).

This post is linked to Eat at Home.