Basil ice cream

 

In that blissful time where it's hard to keep up with the explosion of basil before mornings turn cool and the basil turns rusty, I thought I'd try something beyond vats of pesto.

Basil ice cream
From “The Perfect Scoop” by David Lebovitz
Note: I used a mix of the standard Genovese basil most commonly grown here and some lemon basil.

Ingredients
1 cup packed basil leaves
¾ cup sugar
2 cups of cream, divided
1 cup milk
5 egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon

Method
In a food processor or blender, puree basil, sugar and 1 cup of cream, trying to make basil pieces as small as you can.

Put a layer of ice inside a large bowl. Put half of the pureed mixture in a medium bowl set inside the larger bowl to serve as an ice bath. Add the remaining cup of cream to the mixture in the bowl.

Put the remaining pureed mixture into a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Heat until hot and steaming, but well before the simmer stage. Remove pan from heat. Place egg yolks into a medium bowl. Add small ladlefuls of the hot mixture to the eggs, one at a time, whisking mixture in vigorously as you go to prevent curdling. When the eggs have been slightly warmed, add back to the pan and put the pan back on the heat. Heat, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula, until mixture thickens slightly and coats a spoon dipped into it. (Be careful not to let the mixture boil.)

Remove pan from heat. Place a fine mesh strainer over the mixture in the bowl sitting in the water bath. Strain heated mixture into the mixture in the bowl. Stir in lemon zest and stir until the combined mixture is cool. Cover somewhat loosely and store in the refrigerator until well chilled. Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.

Rating: For a recipe that doesn’t have that many ingredients, this dirties an amazing number of dishes. And getting the basil bits out of that strainer is super fun. So I kind of had an attitude going in that it might not be worth it. Plus, that color is slightly off-putting.That said, the flavor is really quite nice. Subtle, but nice. There's a slightly noticeable texture to it that you wouldn't associate with ice cream, probably from all that fiber. So, I would say that I'm enjoying eating it, but I probably won't go out of my way to make it again. There are higher uses for all that basil glory, if you can dodge all the pollinators to get to it. (Bees apparently adore basil blossoms.)