Ice-cream

For my birthday my parents gave me an ice-cream maker. I used it for the first time on Waitangi day as we had friends over for a bbq.

In the past I have always ignored recipes for ice-cream in books and magazines (although I have made semi fredo), as the thought of going to all the effort only to have an icy result doesn’t really do it for me! So I spent quite a bit of time on Tuesday night going through books. I wanted to do basic vanilla for my first attempt. Nigella Lawson’s book “Forever Summer” had the best selection of recipes. Basically it involved making a custard and then adding some lightly whipped cream once the custard had cooled.

I have never had any problems making custard before and I was busy stirring away, lazily reading Nigella’s instructions when I noticed that she said what to do if your custard splits – mine has never split, but low and behold, as I was stirring, I noticed it start to split. I must have over-heated the pot (I was having trouble with this particular element of my stove that day!!). I quickly took the pot off the stove, threw in a couple of ice cubes (I have done this with success when my hollandaise sauce has started to split) and whisked like crazy. Luckily it pulled together again!!!

The next bit was easy – cool the mixture, add some lightly whipped cream and pour into the ice cream maker. It was soooo good! A great vanilla flavour with the lovely flecks of vanilla seeds – I used one of my prized vanilla beans that I keep for special occasions. I cant wait to make a more adventurous flavour!!

The rest of the bbq was pretty yummy too – cannellini bean and pesto dip with pita crisps for nibbles (dip was just a can of beans processed with a couple of spoonfuls of pesto, some garlic, basil leaves and sea salt); main was scotch fillet roasted on the bbq in one piece (I had marinated it in some red wine vinegar, rosemary and olive oil), a potato salad using Maori potatoes for something different and a salad of ice berg lettuce, dates, walnuts and blue cheese from the latest cuisine magazine (a divine match made in heaven!).

And, of course, dessert. I made this lovely berry shortcake which I served slightly warm with the ice cream. It was a perfect match!!! Summery and yummy!



Berry Shortcake

160g butter
1 c icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ c flour
½ c ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
2 c mixed berries (I used one cup blueberries and one cup raspberries)

· Cream butter, icing sugar and vanilla
· Mix in flour, almonds and cinnamon
· Press ¾ mixture into a 18 x 28 cm lined baking tin; scatter over berries and then crumble rest of mixture over top
· Bake at 180 celsius for about 40 minutes