Unlike the rest of my family, I’m not a huge fan of ice cream. The rest of them, especially The Husband, would crawl over broken glass for a good bowl of ice cream – or even a mediocre one if that was all on offer. When they were very young two of my children had major, reconstructive abdominal surgery and were unable to eat solids for some weeks as a result. Finding nutrient and calorie-dense, appetising, varied soft foods was something of a challenge to me in those pre-Thermomix days, but one of the absolute favourites was always home made, egg based ice creams. It was never difficult to convince fussy toddlers to eat it and making it from rich cream, fruit and egg yolks meant it was as intensely nutritious as it was delicious.
Thankfully, those times are well behind us and home made ice cream is not something that I think to make very often at all these days. Now that my son has his driving license the emergency post-prandial dashes to the local shops can be shared between him and his father whilst I remain blissfully undisturbed once my stint in the kitchen is done. However, I did overhear a pathetic little conversation between our youngest and her father a couple of weeks back. Reminiscing, The Husband was waxing lyrical about my ice cream making skills and expressed his dismay over the sad state of affairs they face as it is a joy now seldom experienced.
As most things tend to fly out of my brain with alarming immediacy, it can’t have been too long after overhearing their plaintive discourse that the lemon theme for the current Sweet Adventures Blog Hop was announced. Some of my few remaining neurons managed to spark to life and dim corners of my brain began to glow as connections between the Blog Hop, the current spate of unseasonably warm weather, a glut of lemons on our splendid tree and ice cream began to form. This resulting ice cream is not egg based, but is altogether quite rich enough with an exclusively cream base. I used rosemary simply because I have extensive rosemary hedges planted in my garden, but I suspect you could play around with other aromatics very successfully. It is utterly simple to make and if you don’t have an ice cream churn, just freeze it for a few hours, remove from the freezer and beat it – doing this at least twice before it freezes completely. This will break up any forming ice crystals and give you a smooth, creamy result.
I was very pleased with this ice cream and The Husband thinks it worthy too, but the horror on the faces of my family when told they couldn’t actually eat it until the next day, when I had a chance to photograph it in daylight, was truly priceless.
- 600 mls pouring cream
- Grated rind and juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 cup caster sugar
- Place cream, lemon rind, rosemary and bay leaf in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to cool.
- Beat sugar and lemon juice together until sugar dissolves.
- Strain cooled cream to remove lemon and herbs, then beat in with sugar and juice.
- Pour into ice cream churn and churn until soft frozen, then place in sealed container in the freezer.
- Alternatively, place cream in freezer for 2-3 hours, remove and whisk. Repeat this once or twice more then freeze until firm.
Details here for how to join the blog hop. Check out the other luscious lemony lovelies from this month’s blog hop here –
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What a fantastically delicious and aromatic ice cream Amanda. I would never have thought to combine these flavours together, but I can only imagine how fragrant and delicious it is. I can see why it got the nod from your husband. I’m so pleased you joined our lemon blog hop.
Yum! I love the sound of this ice cream. Bay leaves do wonderful things to sweet dishes. Glad to find you through the hop.
Oh Amanda, this is beautiful… I love the thought of this one and will make it for sure! My bay bush is already thanking you! I wonder if it’s as good as my lemon, basil and passionfruit ice cream? I bet it is!
Oh, Lizzy – I forgot about that one of yours. And I’ve got a bag of passionfruit and a bunch of basil – I think that will be our next ice cream!
Wow such a creative flavour combination.
I have never made ice cream. Too scared as I do not have a machine.
Please don’t be afraid to try this – it really is dead simple.
What a great flavor combo! I love it. I am on an ice cream crusade at the moment- it is limitless 🙂
I hope your family realise how lucky they are! I’m not a huge ice cream fan, either. I really enjoy it when the flavours are simple and clear – this lemon ice cream would be right up my street. And i love the idea of it being infused with rosemary and bay … very innovative, Amanda.
I love the flavour combination Amanda.
Sorry to hear about the abdominal surgery. Two of your children? That’s unbelievable. Glad they are all better now. Ice cream is wonderful and homemade even better. I love the flavours in this ice cream and would love to try it. I don’t have an ice cream maker so this has to be the recipe for me! xx
Oh just so luscious sounding Amanda! No wonder your family needs icecream constantly when they were raised on such perfection 🙂 Perfect for Anzac Day too, I’ll make some for my Dad!
Whilst I love ice cream I never have it in the house for fear of eating the whole damn lot in one sitting !!! But it is great to see such a lovely recipe that does not need an expensive appliance.
What an interesting flavour! I’m not a huge eater of ice cream myself either. I like it but find that a few spoonfuls are enough 🙂
Now this is the kind of ice cream I would enjoy.
🙂 Mandy
Oooh, I usually associate lemon with sorbet, but this sounds like a good combo!
‘Postprandial’, now that’s a word you don’t see used nearly enough in food blogs. Haha. Lovely recipe Amanda, I love the back story as well, it makes the recipe so much more memorable. I have waned in my ice-cream making of late, it has more to do with laziness than anything else, I must get on it. Perhaps first cabs off the rank should be this and Lizzy’s basil and passionfruit combo. Maybe it’s time for an ice-cream dinner party, that could work…. right?
ps – loving your pics of late, they are looking fantastic!
Beautiful combination and how sweet that your husband so fondly remembers your ice cream making – I bet he was so excited about this batch!
It looks deliciously creamy, Amanda! I’m glad you don’t need emergency icecream anymore. And I had to laugh – I get the same reaction from my tribe as well when I say “don’t eat that until I’ve taken a photo!!”.. 🙂
First – I grew up in a family where we could have lived on ice cream (and practically did). I grew up learning that ice cream was a major food group. And my son, when he was 5 or 6, was in the hospital and in a room with about 8 kids there to get their tonsils out (not him). The following morning he got soup and they all got ice cream, but because they were all in pain, they all gave their bowls of ice cream to my son who ate every single one. Your lemon ice cream (without eggs it must be like lemon ice milk, right? LOVE) is gorgeous and perfect! Now that is what I want!
Jamie – a friend of mine spoke of her guilt today at enjoying this ice cream so much. I pointed out to her that the other way to make it would just involve cream and egg yolks, so really the frozen cream option is not so bad. I had my tonsils out at age 6. I still remember the pain – and the ice cream!
I adore this!! The combination of flavours is just divine. Would be such a complimentary finish to many a Greek meal. Will have to dust off the ice cream machine.
I love the idea of ice cream as convalescence food. When my little ones are unwell and have lost their appetites ice cream is often the only thing they’ll eat (after refusing the organic chicken soup I’ve spent hours making, naturally). Great pic, too.
Hi,
I’ve started My Sweet Party, where I every month host a party with a theme (MAY theme is CHOCOLATE). The party is ongoing the entire duration of the month and then I will choose my top three favourites and feture those blogs. I would LOVE you to join My Sweet Party!
http://meandmysweets.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/my-sweet-party-chocolate-cake-love.html
XXX
Johanna