Recipe: Baklava

The Mitch comes out of retirement with this most ambitious flavour! Bam!

[Credit where credit is due - it's based on this fantastic recipe, with a little bit of Mitchification.]

For the ice cream

2 cups milk

1 cup cream

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp lemon juice

For the extra trappings

1 cup walnuts

1 cup pistachio kernels, unsalted

5 sheets filo pastry

60g of unsalted butter

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Heat up milk, cinnamon and honey in a saucepan. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks and white sugar together in a bowl. Once the milk is hot (not boiling), pour it slowly onto the yolks and stir it in. Pop in the lemon juice, then return to a low heat and stir constantly until it thickens up in to a custard. Set aside to cool.
2. Crush or chop the walnuts and pistachios until they are quite fine (think about the texture of nuts in actual baklava). Melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar and extra tsp of cinnamon to make a caramelly paste. Stir about half of it through the nuts and bake them at 180 degrees for as long as it takes to listen to Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner (about 13:27), or until toasted.
3. Brush each filo sheet with some more of the caramelly goodness and stack them on top of each other. Fold the whole lot in half and then chop into little pieces about 2cm square. Cook in the 180 degrees oven for 10-15 minutes or until light brown and crispy.
4. Once your ice cream mix, nuts and pastry are all cool, mix the cream into your honey custard. Put it in the ice cream machine. Once it's about half-frozen, start adding the chopped nuts. Once it's about 3/4 frozen, pop in the pastry bits. Done!

The Verdict: This is incredibly good. Like actual Baklava, it's ridiculously sweet, so maybe steer clear if you're worried about cavities or diabetes. The large amount of nuts give it a very firm, crunchy texture, and the syrup-soaked pastry make this a highly authentic deconstruction of this celebrated middle-eastern dessert. A possible extension would be to work in some rose-water or orange-blossom essence, but either way you'll be a happy little ice cream fan.

Recipe: Strawberry with Balsamic vinegar and Mint

If you thought Balsamic vinegar and mint were only good for Mediterranean-style salads, well then think again, doofus!

~400g Strawberries
~60ml Balsamic vinegar
2 eggs
120g sugar
juice of half a lemon
1 Tbsp chopped mint leaves
200ml milk
400ml cream

1) Chop the green bits off your strawberries, cut the berries in half and put them in a bowl. Pour over your balsamic vinegar, stir until all the berries are coated and then leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
2) Put the strawberries and balsamic into a saucepan with about 80g of sugar. Crush the strawberries with a potato masher, and simmer for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Put to one side.
3) Heat your milk then add it to the eggs, lightly beaten with the rest of the sugar. Pout it back into the saucepan and heat until custard forms.
4) Mix your strawberry-vinegar slop into the custard. Leave to cool down in the fridge.
5) When the mix is chilled, fold in the cream and then pop it in the ice cream maker. Hooray!

Verdict: Superb! The balsamic vinegar adds a subtle bite to the sweetness of the strawberries, while the mint provides a cool, summery vibe. It's a beach party in your mouth!

Recipe: 'Vegan Power Motherfuckers' Coconut and Almond

'Vegan Power Motherfuckers' is a piece of graffiti scrawled in my back alley by the 'activist' types in the area. It's probably amusing to no one but me, but I figured I'd included it here in a public forum anyway. Don't judge me, I have no life.

I feel for those who embrace the vegan lifestyle, I really do. Pretty much everything contains animal products these days: apples (often waxed with crushed-up beetles), beer (fish scales), wine (fish scales, egg albumen) and condoms (milk proteins) to name but a few. Ice cream, of course, usually contains both eggs AND milk, so it's hardly suited for those who shun animal products. Except, that is, for this one. It uses arrowroot powder as a thickener in place of eggs, and coconut milk in place of the cow juice.

400 ml can coconut milk
400 ml can coconut cream
1/2 cup sugar
2T arrowroot powder (available from health food stores)
3/4 tsp Boyajian lime essence (optional)
roast almonds (optional)

1. Mix the arrowroot powder into about 1/2 a cup of the coconut milk and stir it until the lumps are gone. Put this to one side.
2. In a saucepan, heat the rest of the milk, coconut cream, sugar and lime oil (if using) until it starts to boil.
3. Take the pan off the heat, and immediately add the arrowroot goop. Stir like crazy and you should see it start to thicken.
4. Let the mix cool down to room temperature, then wack it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5. Dump the whole lot in your ice cream maker and add the almonds (if using) once it starts to firm up.

Props: This method of using arrowroot for thickening is actually taken from Agnes L, over at A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise. If your serious about making morally-correct ice cream, then do check out her range of recipes, its a far better resource than this blog of animal exploitation.

The Verdict:
Not bad at all. While I won't be giving up my dairy-based ice cream any time soon, this is a delicious dessert. The texture was smooth, albeit a little bit floury (not as bad as it sounds). Next time around, I would probably use all coconut cream, rather than half cream, half milk to increase the creaminess a bit. All in all though, this is pretty good stuff!

Recipe: Strawberry, Banana and Honey-roasted pecan

Hooley dooley, just how much stuff can you cram into a single ice cream concept?! Well, precisely this much:

300ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
~200g sugar
375g strawberries
3 ripe bananas
juice of half a lemon
~1/2 tsp nutmeg
~1 tsp vanilla essence
~1 cup pecans
~ 1/4 cup honey

1) Cut the green bits of your strawberries and crush them with a potato masher or similar.
2) Simmer the strawberry mash with 100g of the sugar and the lemon juice for a few minutes, until the sugar has dissolved.
3) Mash the bananas.
4) Make your custard with the eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg and the rest of the sugar.
5) Mix the custard, strawberry slop and banana slop together. You may want to put it in the blender at this point to achieve a smooth consistency.
6) Fold in the cream and refrigerate.
7) Roast your pecans for 5-10 minutes at 180C. Be careful they don't burn!
8) Transfer the pecans to a small pan with the honey, and simmer for a few minutes until the honey goes bubbly.
9) Transfer the nuts to a seperate plate or foil sheet to cool.
10) When your mixture is chilled, put it into the ice cream machine. When it starts to set, drop in the chopped honey-roasted nuts and give yourself a self-congratulatory pat on the back.

Verdict: Not bad at all. Personally, I found it a little sweet, but certainly the tasting public were full of praise, and in the end that's what counts. Enjoy.

Super happy blog referral club!

Well, it seems the lovely Jennifer over at craft uberblog Eye of the Needle has featured my carrot cake ice cream recipe as part of a food-styling photo shoot. Check it out in all its carrot-stick-as-wafer-stick glory here. Thanks Jen!

Recipe: Carrot Cake

Remember when you were a kid and your Mum (or Dad - we don't believe in gender stereotyping here at TMICS) would make a carrot cake and then let you lick the mixture off the beaters? Well, this is a bit like that, only colder.

1/2 cup carrots, grated
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup + 40g brown sugar
60g butter
60g white sugar
300ml milk
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp Boyajian lemon oil (or perhaps about 1/2 lemon's worth of rind?)
1 tsp cinnamon
125g cream cheese
300ml cream

OK, this is a slightly complicated one. Here we go!
1) In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add in the 1/4 cup brown sugar, the grated carrots and the walnuts. Heat it over a medium-high heat until it gets all caramalised and goopy.
2) Lightly beat the eggs together with the white sugar and the rest of the brown.
2) Heat the milk in a seperate saucepan with the cinnamon, vanilla and lemon oil. When it's hot, but not boiling, pour it slowly onto the beaten eggs and sugar while stirring. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat until it thickens into a custard.
3) Mix your caramelised carrot mix into the custard and put it in the fridge to cool down.
4) Beat the cream cheese and cream together, then mix in the chilled custard. Put the whole delicious mess in your ice cream machine and bask in its hypnotic whirling.

Verdict: Simply fantastic. This tastes exactly like carrot cake. Quite unsettling really. It's rich and zesty and cakey and freaking delicious. Get on it!

Recipe: Dark Chocolate and Chilli

The ancient Aztecs (or was it the Incas?) are credited with the invention of chocolate, and they used to mix it with hot chilli and drink it. Culinary geniuses or a just a bunch of peyote-crazed sun worshippers? Try this ice cream recipe, then decide.

3 eggs
300 ml milk
300 ml cream
80g sugar
200g dark chocolate
1/8 tsp chilli powder

NOTE: The chilli powder I have is insanely hot, so I didn't use very much. Your mileage may vary.

Heat your milk in a saucepan with the chilli powder, and meanwhile beat your eggs and mix in the sugar. Pour the milk slowly into the eggs, and return it to the pan and slowly heat it until it turns to custard. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or mixing bowl sitting on top of a saucepan of water) and stir it into the custard. Chill, then add the cream and pop it into the ice cream machine.

Verdict: Sensational. Rich and creamy and not too sweet. The ice cream has the texture of velvet and the chilli adds a sharp kick to the downward slope of the flavour curve. It's intense pleasure with a little bit of pain - like being spanked on a roller coaster, and I for one am lining up for another ticket...

Recipe: Hazelnut Latte

Ice Cream on a Tuesday?!? Has The Mitch gone mad?

3 eggs
100g sugar
400 ml milk
300 ml cream
200ml strong espresso coffee
~1 cup roasted hazelnuts

Lightly beat your eggs and mix in the sugar. Heat the milk and coffee in a pan, pour gradually into the eggs and put it back in the pan and stir until you get your custard. Refrigerate until cold. Slop it into your ice cream maker and add the nuts when it starts getting thick.

Verdict: Very good. The coffee flavour was strong but not at all bitter, and the amount of hazelnuts was generous without overdoing the nuttiness. Make mine a grande!

Recipe: Chocolat Et Orange

Just DON'T call it 'Jaffa'...

400 ml milk
300 ml cream
100g sugar
200g dark chocolate
3 eggs
~4 tsp Boyajian orange citrus oil. These oils have the equiavalent of like a billion pieces of fruit in each teaspoon and are ideal for citrus flavoured ice cream. Unfortunately I spilled most of my bottle of orange oil on the kitchen floor while making this ice cream, so the orange flavour could be a one-off, methinks...

Heat your milk, then make the custard with your eggs and sugar. Add in the citrus oil. Put it in sparingly at first and taste regularly cos it's mighty strong and easy to overdo it.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler you can do as The Mitch does and melt it in a metal bowl (or ceramic bowl, for that matter) sitting on top of a saucepan of boiling water. Mix in the gooey chocolate to the still-warm custard. Refrigerate, then stick it in the ice cream maker.

Verdict: I think this is the richest ice cream I have ever made. It was so thick and viscous with delicious dark chocolate that I almost didn't need to freeze it. The overtones of orange were subtle but zealous and really set off the deep cocoa flavour. Another raging sucess, but be warned - it's seriously heavy stuff - one cone made me feel like I'd eaten an entire meal.

Recipe: Cardamom and Saffron

Blah blah blah I've been to India blah blah blah...

3 Eggs
600ml Milk
300ml Cream
~2/3 cup sugar
8 green cardamom pods
~1/2tsp saffron threads
roasted almonds (i actually wanted to use pistachios, but it's hard to find unsalted ones on a sunday afternoon)

Grind the cardamom pods as finely as you can. Crush the saffron threads with a few drops of water to make a pretty yellow paste.

Add the spices to the milk and heat it gently. When it's hot, pour it onto the beaten eggs and sugar and mix it together. Pour all of that back in the saucepan and stir until you get your custard. Let it cool, add the cream and chill. Throw it all in the machine. When it starts to solidify, add in your chopped nuts. Shaka Laka Boom Boom!

Verdict. Hmmm, one couldn't really taste the saffron so I would recommend either adding more (if you can afford it), or leaving it out entirely. Overall though, this was a very successful flavour. The subtle bite of cardamom is a sublime compliment to the rich almonds. Peace out.

ROAAAAD TRRRIIIIIP!!!!

Ice cream shops seem to be sprouting up all over Melbourne at the moment. Lygon St is starting to resemble a strip mall of Italian style Gelataria's while a certain bouncy sounding chain of ice creameries featuring youthful staff wearing t-shirts emblazoned with double entendres is spreading across the city like a virus. Sure, sure, these places can make a decent ice cream cone, but none of them exactly blow me away in the flavour originality department. Surely there's someone out there who's not afraid to take a few risks, think outside the ice cream container and try something totally out there?

Well there just might be. Some time ago I read about this fellow by the name of Jock, who runs an ice cream shop on Victoria Avenue in Albert Park. I've been wanting to sample his work for a while, ever since I heard that he has created a Black Sticky Rice flavour. Woah! Originality like that puts my crappy little chaicecream experiments to shame!

So, on a grey and windy saturday afternoon, my friend Kat and I made the long trek across the river to visit this famed shop. One entire wall of the store is deveoted to awards received at the Royal Melbourne Show. Interestingly enough, multiple flavours seem to have won exactly the same prize in exactly the same category in exactly the same year. Suspicious, but in any case, paper certificates don't mean much, cos when it comes to ice cream, the proof is, quite literally, in the pudding.

I had:
Black Sticky Rice - A rich custardy affair with chewy black rice grains scattered throughout.
Cinnamon - Deliciously sweet 'n' spicy.

Date - This was good, but incredibly rich - perhaps a little too much, especially in combination with my other flavour choices.

Kat had:
Black Sticky Rice
Lemon Cream - Sweet, creamy, citrussy joy. We both agreed this was the pick of the bunch.
Coconut and Lime - I tried to make this not long ago and it turned out quite well. Jock's is much better.

So it's all round deliciousness really, and at just under $5 for three scoops it can't be beat.

Jock also has a large amount of flavours in take home packs in the fridge as well, not all of which are available in cone/cup form at the moment. I'm hoping he has some sort of circulation thing going on, because I desperately want to try the baked apple and orange with rosewater next time. Oh yes, and there will be a next time. Some things are worth crossing the river for.

Hiatus

The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday will be on hiatus for at least 4 months. I'm off to do some travelling in India and SE Asia, so I don't think there'll be much in the way of Ice Cream production for a while.

The good news is that ICS will almost certainly be back in the summertime, with a whole new exciting range of flavours, some of which will no doubt be inspired by my travels in the east (saffron? cardamon? durian?).

Thanks for your support, Sundaynauts! It's been fun!

Recipe: Wattleseed & Grand Marnier Redux

Well, I pretty much followed exactly the same recipe as last time, but with only 160g of sugar and a little more of the booze. It was good. damn good.

Recipe: Cherry Ripe Redux

Coming in equal third in ICS greatest hits is this interpretation of the chocolate bar of the same name.

400 ml milk
300 ml cream
100g sugar
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean
~350g sweetened morello cherries in syrup
shredded coconut
150g dark chocolate, chopped

- Put a slit down the whole length of the vanilla bean and add it to the milk in a sauce pan.
- Heat the milk until not quite boiling
- Remove the vanilla bean and carefully scrap out all the seeds, stirring them back into the hot milk
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then pour in the hot milk while stirring.
- Put the mixture back into the saucepan and heat, whilst stirring, until custard forms
- Put the custard aside to cool
- In another saucepan, cook the cherries in syrup and coconut with a little extra sugar.
- Once the syrup has mostly evaporated and the cherries have lost their formation, set aside to cool.
- Once the custard has reached room temperature, add the cream and refrigerate.
- Pour the custard mixture into the ice cream maker.
- Once the ice cream starts to set, add the chopped chocolate pieces, and small balls of the sticky cherry and coconut.
- Once the ice cream maker stops, freeze for a little bit longer if necessary then enjoy it, goddamn it!

Remarks: Even better than the last time, for sure. To quote James - 'The way the cherries and coconut combined was like a symphony." To quote everyone else - 'This is the best one ever." I will sleep with a smug smile on my face tonight...

Recipe: Mint - Redux

500ml milk
300 ml double cream
3 egg yolks
100g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 bunch mint leaves

Make custard with milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Let cool then whisk in the cream and add chopped mint leaves. Mix in the ice cream maker and enjoy.

Remarks: Oh hell yeah! Better than Mint v1.0, for mine...

Poll results

Well, the polls have closed, the votes have been counted and the allegations of electoral fraud have been dismissed. The top flavours are:

1st - Peanut butter (16 points)
2nd - Wattle seed and Grand Marnier (15 points)
Equal 3rd - Mint / Cherry Ripe (12 points each)

Thanks to all that voted. Three cheers for democracy! And me!

Recipe: Date

250g dates
450ml milk
300ml cream
3 egg yolks
~1/2 cup sugar

Chop the dates and add them to the milk in a sauce pan. Heat the milk, and pour into egg yolks and sugar. Put the whole mess back into the saucepan and stir until you get your custard. Puree the mixture in a blender, then pour through a sieve to remove any chunks. Add the cream and chill, then stick it in the ice cream machine.

Remarks: Well, I kind of stuffed this one up a bit by trying to do a fancy caramel swirl. The caramel sauce was too warm and melted the ice cream, whilst forming itself into a massive chewy lump. So I wouldn't recommend doing that. The date ice cream itself was very tasty however. The blended up bits of date skin gave it a slightly grainy texture, but this could probably be avoided by using a finer sieve.

Recipe: Apple Pie Ice Cream!?!?

As American as baseball, Mom, and extraordinary rendition

1kg Apples (about 6)
450ml Cream
100g sugar
3 egg yolks
1tsp mixed spice
~100g Digestive biscuits

Peel, core and chop your apples. Put them in a saucepan with half the sugar and cook until soft. Blend them into a puree. Heat the cream in a saucepan along with the spices, then mix into the egg yolks and sugar and heat until your creme anglaise forms. Once this and the apple has cooled, mix them together and refrigerate for a while, then whack it in the ice cream machine. Once it's finished, fold in the crumbled biscuits for that pie crust taste.

Remarks: One of the better ice creams I've eaten. Can't think of anything I'd do differently next time, quite frankly....

Vote for your top 5!!

Dear friends of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday,

Ice Cream Sunday (both the event and the weblog) will be going on an extended hiatus in a couple of months time as I'm heading off overseas for a while. That's the bad news. The good news is that in the last few weeks leading up to my departure I'll be re-visiting some of Ice Cream Sunday's greatest hits. But I need my faithful patrons to tell me what the best flavours are. So here's what you're gonna do:

1. Re-aquaint yourself with the list of past flavours using this blog.
2. Rank your top 5 flavours by assigning your favorite ice cream 5 points, your second favorite 4 points, and so on. If you've ever watched the Eurovision Song Contest you know how this scoring system works. Feel free to translate your votes into French to really give it that Eurovision feel ('chocolat et pistache...deux points').
3. Post a comment attached to this entry with your votes in it.

At the end of this month (or just when everyone's voted) I'll tally up the numbers and during Ice Cream Sunday in May you'll be treated to the three flavours that scored highest.

Terms and Conditions

Voting is only open to those people who have attended at least five (5) officially sanctioned sessions of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday.

Only flavours produced between 01/09/2005 and 01/04/2006 can be voted for (i.e. anything after Cheesecake is not eligible).

Voting closes at 11:59:59pm on 30/04/2005

In the event of a tie, the deadlock will be broken by an SMS poll using a shortlist made up of the two or more flavours that finished with equal points. If this still fails to produce a clear winner, I'll just flip a coin...

The Mitch's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Okay, that's it. Get voting!

Recipe: Beer!

250ml milk
300 ml cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup Guinness
1 tsp vanillla essence

Heat up your milk, and meanwhile beat together the eggs, white sugar and vanilla. Add them together in the usual manner and make custard. Leave that to cool and then bring your beer to the boil in another saucepan with the brown sugar. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so until it's reduced in volume a bit. Let it cool down. Once the beer mixture and custard are both back to room temperature, mix them together and add the cream. Put the mix in the fridge for a few hours, then freeze it in the ice cream maker.

Remarks: Not too bad at all. The Guiness flavour is very subtle, and I'm still undecided as to whether this is a good or bad thing. First impressions of the taste invoke vanilla, but with subtle undertones of something else. The majority of the beer flavour is concentrated in a slightly bitter aftertaste, which I quite liked, but wouldn't want to make any more intense. Overall a damn good ice cream. Put your pre-conceptions to one side and try it, people!

Recipe: Cheesecake

Another one inspired by Nigella Lawson. She does some great ice cream.

200 ml milk
300 ml cream
125g cream cheese
200g sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
~60g digestive biscuits

Beat together the eggs, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Then heat up the milk and beat it into this mix. Pour it all back into the saucepan and stir until custard develops. Chill then freeze in the ice cream maker. Once it's finished, stir in the crumbled up biscuits and put it in the freezer for further solidification.

Remarks: Great! Could have used another hour or so in the freezer, but I was under time pressures due to rugby league season...If this wasn't a bit too soft I would rank it as my favorite ice cream yet...

Recipe: Biscotti e Crema

Commonly known as "Cookies and Cream", but I'm far too sophisticated for that!

400ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
100g sugar
1 vanilla pod
~125g chocolate cookies (I used arnotts 'chocolate ripple')

Of course you don't have to use a vanilla pod for this, you could just use vanilla essence, but where's the fun in that? Take your vanilla pod and make a slit along it lengthways. Scrape out all the seeds and put them in a saucepan with the milk. Make sure you get 'em all. Then throw the bean in the pot as well and heat the milk up until it almost boils. Let it steep for about 20 minutes, then take out the bean and pour the milk into the egg and sugar mixture. Mix it a bit and put it back into the saucepan. Heat and stir until you get your custard*, then let it cool, down mix in the cream and refrigerate. Then it goes into the machine and when it gets thick you put in the biscuits which you have crushed.

Remarks: Yes, yes yes. It is good. Possibly the finest textured ice cream I have ever produced. The only flaw was that the smaller biscuit crumbs dissolved as the ice cream was mixing and made it into a weak chocolate ice cream, rather than a vanilla base. Which was actually pretty good, but I prefer the contrast between the plain vanilla ice cream and the chocolate bits. So next time I would use larger chunks of biscuit and/or add them at a later stage. But this either way this is damn good. It's firmly nestled in my top 5. Rock 'n' Roll!

* The custard used in making ice cream is often called "Creme Anglaise', which is a FRENCH term meaning "ENGLISH Cream". Which seems pretty stupid to me.

Tribute Album

Well, with Ice Cream Sunday fast approaching it's 6 month anniversary, I figure the time is right to release a compilation album dedicated to everyone's favorite sunday afternoon activity!

(And no, I'm not going to actually do it, It's just another elaborate fantasy dreamed up to amuse myself during a slow work day.)

Tentatively entitled "Chill Out '06 - A musical tribute to Ice Cream Sunday", the track listing to date is:

01. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
02. White Pepper Ice Cream - Cibo Matto
03. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
04. Greensleeves - ??? (err, you know that song the Mr Whippy van plays as it drives around?)

Hmm, any more suggestions?

Recipe: Peach

OK, so my dear mother - always supportive of her son's wacky schemes - sent me a bunch of ice cream recipes photocopied from her Nigella Lawson cookbook. Thanks Mum! Anyway, one of them forms the basis of this weeks flavour...

• ~6 ripe yellow peaches (Nigella recommends 10 peaches, but she's way off here. Even 6 is probably too many. Perhaps she is used to using tiny, tasteless British peaches?)
• 300ml milk
• 300ml cream
• 4 egg yolks
• Juice of 1 lime
• 6 tbsp sugar

Cut the peaches in half and put them face up on a baking tray. Sprinkle over half the sugar, and then squeeze over the lime juice. Put that in a 210 C oven for 20-30 minutes or so till the peaches go soft. This will enhance the flavour of the peaches, apparently.

Let 'em cool off a bit, then peel off the skins as best you can. Put them in a blender or food processor and puree them. Let 'em cool down some more

Meanwhile, make your custard with the milk and egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Once it and the peaches have both cooled off, mix them together with the cream and refrigerate the whole thing for a bit longer. Then fill the machine and away you go to a happy land of peach-filled fantasies.

Oh, and cos I had so many peaches left over I chopped them up (after roasting) and mixed them into the ice cream.

Remarks: Well look, this tastes pretty good, but once again the stuff was too soft. There was a bit more volume than usual, thanks to the over-estimation of peaches, which could have something to do with it. But this, coupled with last weeks debacle makes me a little uneasy. Perhaps my faithful Krups Ice Cream Maker is starting to fail??

Recipe: Maple Pecan

300 ml Cream
400ml milk
3 egg yolks
~200ml maple syrup
~150g pecans

Milk & eggs and syrup make the custard. While that's cooling, roast the pecans on a baking tray in a 180 degree oven (that's celcius folks) fr 10 minutes or so. Add the cream, put it in the machine, add the pecans once it starts to get thick.

Remarks: Arrgh! for the first time in the history of The Mitch's Ice Cream Sunday the ice cream did not work. Basically it just didn't freeze properly. It got into a semi-solid goopy state and stayed there, even after like 2 hours in the ice cream machine. The good news is I think this was entirely my own fault for putting the mix in the machine before it had totally cooled down (hey - I was in a hurry!) A secondary freezing (after sticking the tub back into the freezer for a few hours) was more succesful. Too late to feed the hungry Ice Cream Sunday patrons though - apologies to all...

So, as long as your careful to chill the mixture in the fridge for a while before you pour it into the machine, then this recipe should work. Don't blame me if it doesn't though. All care, no responsibility, that's our motto here at TMICS!

Oh, and when it finally does freeze, it tastes blow-your-mind mega-great. Nutty but sweet, just like The Mitch himself...awww...

Recipe: Nutella

BYO sliced white bread...

300ml milk
3-4 egg yolks
300ml cream
100ml sugar
200g nutella

Custardise the eggs milk and sugar. When it's cooled down a little bit, whisk in the nutella. When it's cooled down completely add the cream and chill, then put it in the ice cream machine. Easy!

Suggestion: Add some chopped/whole hazelnuts for a bit of texture and additional flavour.

Verdict: Good. Damn good. If you like Nutella, you will like this. If you don't , you won't. Sigh...If only life was always this black and white, huh?

Recipe: Avocado, peanut and honey

Sounds like a new facial product from the Ponds Institute, but it's actually a new ice cream flavour from the eccentric billionaire owner of the Mitchell Ice Cream Institute.

300ml milk
300ml cream
50g sugar
5 tbsp honey
2-3 avocados
1 tbsp lime juics
3 eggs

Make the custard with milk, eggs, sugar and honey. Once it's cooled down a bit put it in the blender with the avocado, lime juice and cream. Put the whole disgusting concoction into the ice cream maker and add the peanuts once it starts to freeze.

Remarks: Well, I don't quite know what to say. A mouthful of this makes you experience a whole cornucopia of emotions, from love to hate to anger to pain to joy and back again. It's weird, folks. It's not bad, it's just really WEIRD. The green colour looks pretty cool though...

Recipe: Peanut Butter with err...peanuts

3 egg yolks
200g sugar (could probably have got away with a lot less if I used unsalted peanut butter...)
600ml milk
~1 cup smooth peanut butter
150g scorched peanuts (you know - the ones with the chocolate on 'em)

Make custard. Beat in the peanut butter using an electric beater or hand mixer. Chill. Stick in the machine and add the peanuts once it starts to freeze.

Remarks: "Best flavour yet The Mitch"; "What a great texture The Mitch"; "Oh my God, this is fantastic The Mitch!"; "You are my hero The Mitch" etc etc. Seriously - I can't fault it.

Recipe: Chocolate and Coconut

Well I was trying to make "lamington" ice cream, but of course the main part of a lamington is the cake, something which this ice cream is obviously missing. So while I feel it does not deserve the title of Australia's most famous baked item, it does make a rich and tasty dessert nonetheless.

400ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
200g dark chocolate
~60g coconut (not sure about the quantity here)
1 tsp vanilla
100g sugar

Milk + eggs + sugar = custard. Then melt the chocolate using a double boiler (or the mitch's patented "cereal bowl in a saucepan" method. Stir the cream into that, fold into the custard and mix in the coconut and vanilla.

Remarks: It's too damn rich man! I would probably ease up on the chocolate next time...

Recipe: Wattle Seed and Grand Marnier

An Australia day special. Based on a recipe from the "serendipity" ice cream shop in Sydney.

400ml milk
300ml cream
4 egg yolks
250g sugar
3 heaped teaspoons wattle seed (yeah you gotta buy it, not just pick wattle off a tree, i'm afraid)
50ml grand marnier

Mix half the sugar with about 100ml of water and cook in a saucepan until the sugar disssolves. Add the wattle seed and grand marnier and simmer for about 5 minutes. Leave that to cool, and meanwhile do the custard thing with the eggs, milk and the rest of the sugar. Strain the wattle seeds out of the cooled syrup as best you can (you could leave them in, but I found them a little too bitter) and mix into the custard. Let the whole lot cool down, then add the cream and let the ice cream machine do it's thing...

Remarks: True blue fairdinkum you bloody beauty. It's a strange taste to be sure, somewhat like dirty coffee, but actually works out very well. Some voted this the best flavour so far. Who am I to argue?

Recipe: Strawberry

Old Mitchy went back to basics this week with this classic flavour.

500g ripe strawberries
300g sugar
juice of half a lemon
300ml milk
300ml double cream (i'm sure the single stuff is still fine, i just felt like experimenting)
4 egg yolks
1tsp vanilla

Take the green bits off the strawberries, put them (the berries, not the green bits) in a bowl with the sugar and lemon juice and crush them with a potato masher. Put the whole sloppy mess in a saucepan and simmer briefly until the sugar is dissolved.

Make the custard with the eggs 'n' milk 'n' vanilla (note - no need to add sugar to the custard for this one, cos it's all in with the berries).

Once the custard is cool, mix in the cream (the double cream is kinda thick, so you might want to use a whisk to break it up a little). Once the strawberries are cool, mix everything together. Look at the pretty pink shade. Refrigerate. Pour it in the machine and Bob's your bloody uncle!

Remarks: Some ICS patrons claimed this was their favorite flavour to date. High praise indeed! Personally, I found it delicious, but nothing to write home about (although, it seems, it is something to write on your ice cream blog about.) Different strokes for different folks though, I guess. The pieces of crushed stawberries probably could have been a bit smaller, as they tended to form a big frozen clump around the paddle of the ice cream machine...

Ice Bowl!

Well, Ice Cream Sunday for 2006 started off in fine fashion, with Tristan supplying an Ice Bowl for the occasion. Yes folks, the bowl is made out of ICE!!! Thanks T!

Recipe: Coconut and Banana

A Thai-inspired, anglo-made flavour.

2 or 3 ripe bananas
400ml coconut milk
120g palm sugar
300ml cream
4 eggs

Firstly, chop the bananas into small chunks and put in the freezer.
Secondly, grate the palm sugar.
Thirdly, make your custard in the usual way, substituting the coconut milk for the regular cow stuff and mixing it into the palm sugar and beaten eggs.
Fourthly, let it cool, add the cream and chill.
Finally, Put it in the ice cream maker. When it starts getting thick, add the frozen pieces of banana.

Remarks: A-roi! (Thai for "frikkin' delicious"). The palm sugar could be easily substituted for regular cane sugar without affecting the flavour too much. A great summer flavour, especially with the frozen banana pieces. I only used 2 bananas, but in hindsight should have gone with at least 3...

UPDATE: Although a little soft upon creation (perhaps due to the different chemical properties of coconut milk vs. regular?), further freezing of the left over ice cream produced a remarkably smooth texture, without the iciness that so often accompanies additonal freezing of home made, preservative-free ice cream...

How to make ice cream

Well, it seems that the Ice Cream Sunday revolution has inspired no less than three people I know to give the gift of an ice cream maker to their friends/loved ones this christmas. I'm absolutely speechless! I had no idea I wielded such influence over people... However, such power comes with great responsibility, so here, especially for you newbies, is a brief summary of The Mitch's ice cream production process. There might be better ways of doing it, and if you find such a way, then please let me know. In an case, listen carefully, cos I'm only gonna say this once...

To make ice cream, you gotta start by making custard. Because this involves heating things up, and ice cream, by definition, is served cold, you will need to do this at least a couple of hours before your preferred serving time. Custard consists of three things: eggs, milk and sugar. The proportions of each can be varied depending on your recipe, but I always do this step the same way:

1. Heat up the milk in a small saucepan. It doesn't have to be super-hot, and certainly should not be allowed to boil.
2. Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl with a fork or whisk. Some folk advocate separating the eggs and just using the yolks, which will give a richer, more custardy ice cream, though you may need to use more eggs to compensate for the reduced volume. Putting in the egg whites certainly works fine, though seems to lead to a slightly fluffier ice cream - something the purists would disagree with, but i'm a new-school kind of guy...
3. Take your hot milk and pour it slowly into the eggs/sugar mix, stirring the whole time. Doing this slowly whilst stirring ensures the eggs can slowly adjust to the heat of the milk, and won't instantly cook.
4. Transfer this mix back into the saucepan. Keep it on a medium heat and stir continuously until it starts to thicken. It doesn't have to be mega-thick, just enough so it coats the back of your stirring spoon. It is mighty important not to let the custard get too hot! At some point between 74 and 90 degrees Celsius, the egg protein gets all screwed up and separates itself from the rest of the custard, leaving you with scrambled eggs floating in sweet milk. Not cool. I keep the hot-plate at a temperature mid-way up the dial and it seems to work OK. Just keep stirring and watch carefully. Once it thickens, take it off the heat and keep stirring for another minute or two. If it starts to boil, you're screwed...
5. If you're adding any spices to the ice cream, it's best to add them during this heating stage so the flavours get released through the custard. Also, any ingredients that would benefit from being dissolved (fancy sugars, syrups etc) should be added during this part of the process.

So, once you've got your custard made, set it aside to cool down. Go out and kick the footy or read a book or go visit your parents. Then do this:

1. Once the custard has cooled down to room temperature, add in your cream, if using it. Any additional liquid flavours should be also be added now.
2. If you've got some time left before you wanna serve the ice cream, stick the mixture in the fridge to cool down further.
3. Plug in and turn on the ice cream machine (see your manual for details). Pour the mixture into the machine and watch the magic happen. If it doesn't freeze properly, you may have too much sugar, or simply too much liquid in the machine.
   
4. If you have solid ingredients (nuts, chocolate bits etc), wait until the mixture is partially frozen and then just drop them into the machine as it turns.

And that's about it. There's a few things to consider, but it's actually pretty simple to do, and pretty hard to stuff up. So get to it, dudes!

Recipe: Mango

2 mangoes
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
300ml milk
300 ml cream
2 eggs

You're gonna need a blender or food processor for this one. Puree the mango, lime juice and half the sugar together. I meant to simmer the mango pieces with the sugar first, but forgot. It still turned out fine. Use the eggs, milk and the rest of the sugar to make le custarde. Let it cool, then mix in the pureed fruit and the cream. Put it in the ice cream maker and the rest of this story writes itself...

Remarks: Great, but personally I fell it was little too creamy. May have been better to go gelato-style on this one and only use milk for the dairy element. That's a personal preference though, this is still damn good. If you could take the Australian summer and make it into a frozen dessert, then this would be it. Just remember to remove the race riots first, they can leave a bad taste in the mouth...

Recipe: Christmas Pudding

~200g Mixed dried fruit (orange peel, lemon peel, raisins, sultanas, preserved ginger, those weird glace cherries etc etc )
1.5 tsps mixed spice
6tbsp sherry
75g almonds
4 eggs
80g brown sugar
40g ordinary white sugar
400ml milk
300ml cream

You gotta plan ahead a bit for this one - soak the dried fruit in the sherry, mixed with about half the spice. Leave for a couple of days so it gets nice and boozey.

Make the custard, then mix in the cream and the rest of the spices. Put it in the machine, and add the fruit and nuts when it starts to thicken. I drained off the rest of the sherry before adding the fruit in, as too much booze can change the freezing point of the mix...

Remarks: Great! Fills you full of yuletide cheer! A possible alternative would be to substitute some of the sugar for melted chocolate....next year friends, next year...

Recipe: Wasabi

It's big in Japan, apparently.

300ml milk
300ml cream
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
~120g sugar
1 3/4 tsp wasabi paste

Make vanilla custard, stir in the wasabi, dissolved in the minutest amount of water.

Verdict: Hmm...well...not at all bad, though definitely not for everyone. The trial group was divided down the middle as to whether this was awesome or awful. One chap complained of a "meaty" flavour, though this appeared to have diminished after further freezing (the more frozen ice cream is, the more subdued the flavour is...). The spicy aftertaste is very pleasant, but I have a feeling that this may not be making up part of Ice Cream Sunday's greatest hits of 2005...

Recipe: Chocolate chip cookie dough

The Mitch and James's take on an old favorite from the country that brought you the Internet, the A-Bomb and Texas...

Make a vanilla base using the same recipe as Mint, but using about 2/3 of the sugar (and minus the mint leaves, of course). Stick it in the machine and when it starts to firm up, add little balls of uncooked cookie dough to the mix. We used "Auntie kaths" brand choc-chip. And that's it!

Verdict: Very rich. Tasty though. God bless America!

Recipe: Mint

400ml milk
400ml cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
5 eggs
125g sugar
About 80g fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (one bunch from Coles)

Make the custard. Cool to room temperature. Add the cream and mint. Mix. Chill in the fridge if you have time, then stick it in the ol' machine. Easy!

Remarks: Seriously, this is the best flavour to date. Can't fault it!

Recipe: Hazelnut Gelato

120g Hazelnuts
120g sugar
~750ml milk
1 vanilla bean/vanilla essence
6 egg yolks

Spread the hazelnuts on a bit of foil and grill for a while until the skins come off easily. Take off as much of them as yo ucan, then grind finely in a blender with 30g of the sugar.

Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the milk while heating. Do the custard thing with the eggs milk and the rest of the sugar. Mix in the nuts, chill then put it in the machine.

Recipe: Lavender

1/4 cup of water
2 tbsp culinary lavender
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
5 egg yolks

Simmer water and lavender for a minute or two until reduced by half. Add sugar, dissolve and simmer a few minutes to thicken syrup. Stir in the honey and set aside.

Custardise the milk and eggs, then stir in the lavender syrup. Cool, then strain out the lavender. Stick it in the machine.

Verdict: Sophisticated!

Recipe: Black Pepper

Courtesy of The Age - Good Weekend magazine 17/11/05

500ml Milk
6 egg yolks
150g caster sugar
500ml cream
2 tsp freshl cracked black pepper
pinch of salt(!)

Make the custard with milk, eggs and sugar. At this point The Age recommends passing the mixture through a sieve, but we didn't. Let it cool then mix in the cream pepper and salt, then let the machine do it's thing...

It's crazy but it works....

Recipe: Cherry Ripe (tm)

500ml cream
500ml milk
3 Eggs
1 tsp vanilla
100g sugar
1 jar Greenland seeded cherries in syrup
~125g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
shredded coconut

I boiled the cherries and coconut with some extra sugar for a while to try and reduce the syrup to a more sticky consistency, and remove some of the tartness. After making the ice cream and adding the chocolate, the cooled cherry mixture was added as a swirl...nice!

NOTES: This recipe actually makes too much volume, the stuff was spewing out the top of the Krups like a creamy Vesuvius. Also, the jar of "seeded" cherries contained about 4 seeds. All in all another raging success, though....

Recipe: Triple Ginger Madness

600ml Milk
300 Ml cream
3 eggs
~75g sugar
3 tbsp buderim ginger spread
glace ginger, chopped
gingernut biscuits, crushed
1tsp vanilla

Dissolve the ginger spread in the hot milk before doing the egg and sugar thing. Add the glace ginger and biscuits once the mixture starts thickening in the machine.

NOTES:
- The ginger spread was not very strong, so the icecream itself did not have a very strong ginger flavour. Could try putting in more spread and leave out the sugar altogether? The chopped preserved ginger more than made up for it though...
- Once again, this didn't completely set. Too much sugar? Too much volume in the machine?? ARRGH!

Recipe: Chaice-cream

600ml Milk
2 Eggs
5 chai tea bags
honey to taste
300 ml cream
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Brew the tea in the hot milk, then add honey, eggs and do the custard thing.

Notes:

• Pretty good, but perhaps a little too strong on the tea flavour. Could try just using the chai spices and no (or at least less) actual tea.
• Also - the custard went kind of weird and lumpy. This might be due to some sort of reaction with the tea, or possibly I just overcooked it? Turned out OK in the end though...
• Once again, this had some problems solidifying in the machine. After an hour in the krups, it was still kind of soft. Bah!

Recipe: Dark chocolate and pistachio

~500ml full cream milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
~100g sugar
~200g dark chocolate, melted
(All of the above go into the custard step)
300ml cream
pistachios, kind of crushed.

Comment: Ace! Although, it did not set very well - possibly due to the double hit of sugar and chocolate?