olive oil ice cream

And now begins the onslaught of ice creams. I'd been talking about getting an ice cream maker for well over a year, but even though they're fairly cheap as far as kitchen gadgets go (you can easily find one for under $50) it just seemed so... impractical somehow. After all, I don't eat ice cream that often, and the ingredients (heavy cream, eggs, fresh fruit) can be prohibitively expensive on my paltry pseudo-salary.

Then I was gifted with a machine, and I've done nothing but make ice cream (okay, and olive oil cake) for the last couple of weeks. I'll put each ice cream in its own post, because otherwise this would be ridiculously long, but they won't all have pictures. For some reason all of my ice creams are in the same color family and you'd swear I was just shooting the same pint container over and over again.



So let's start! I adore olive oil (see cake below) and so this ice cream was the first one I attempted. Try to find a fruity olive oil with a bright flavor- I've used both an Italian one and a Californian one from Trader Joe's. Use the best you can afford, because the flavor will be pure.



Olive Oil Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 1/3 c (330ml) whole milk
1/2 c (100g) sugar
pinch of salt
1 c (250 ml) heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c (125 ml) olive oil

Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat, scraping the sides and bottom as you stir (this is important so that the bottom/sides don't cook themselves solid), until the mixture thickens and coats the bottom of a spoon. You should be able to drag your finger across the spoon and the track stays clean- the sides won't run back together. Pour the custard through the strainer (this removes all the cooked bits) and stir it into the cream. Whisk the olive oil into the custard vigorously until well blended, then chill thoroughly in the fridge. (Lebovitz suggests stirring over an ice bath first, but I just put the whole bowl into the fridge straightaway).

When completely chilled, freeze it in your ice cream maker.