The fruit cage that protects our fruit bushes on the allotment has become a bird cage several times recently, as enterprising blackbirds, a sparrow and even a rare whitethroat have wriggled in and then got trapped. But we have still had so much fruit that apart from giving it away or putting it in the freezer, thinking how to use it has taken time every day. Nature's bounty is a generous one.
So I suddenly decided to try some fancy ice cream, using the world's simplest recipe for which you don't need an icecream maker and which doesn't need endless stirring. A machine to do the initial whisking is very useful though.
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I made one batch, just eggs and cream, half as an experiment of Blackcurrant Ripple and flavoured the other half with loganberries. It was so hard to choose one flavour as the best that we ate both together and bowls were licked!
Best Icecream
4 eggs
1/2 pint/400ml whipping or double cream, whipped till billowy
4 oz castor sugar
This is the basic recipe which with a few drops of vanilla essence plus, if possible, vanilla sugar used makes a lovely plain ice. It can also be flavoured with coffee, see Coffee and Praline Icecream, or with fruit purees. Not everyone has loganberries and you can't often buy them, but raspberries, gooseberries, even strawberries, not cooked but pureed with some lemon added, or any mixture will also work.
Blackcurrant Ripple: a good way to use these sharp berries which so many people are wary of.
In advance: put 1/2 lb/ 250g fruit in a pan on a low heat till it softens and the juice starts to flow. Add a little sugar, perhaps 2 tbs, and let it cook till the berries are really soft. Then cool it, and put through a sieve so you get a thick puree. Taste it to see if it needs more sugar, but don't sweeten too much, you want it to have a strong fruity flavour. When it is cold and your icecream mixture is ready, put half the mixture into a big bowl and stir the puree through quickly, not worrying too much about consistent streaks.Freeze quickly in a box with a lid.
NB: You could use this much puree to flavour a whole batch, either as a less oomphy ripple, epecially if you are just a little afraid of blackcurrants, or stirred though to make a smooth ice.
Loganberry Ice: 1/2 lb/250g fruit cooked and sieved as above, then stirred into half the mixture till smooth.You will need more sugar as these berries really are sharp but keep it strong and fruity.
If you want just one flavour, use 1lb/500g fruit to make a puree.
So I suddenly decided to try some fancy ice cream, using the world's simplest recipe for which you don't need an icecream maker and which doesn't need endless stirring. A machine to do the initial whisking is very useful though.
I made one batch, just eggs and cream, half as an experiment of Blackcurrant Ripple and flavoured the other half with loganberries. It was so hard to choose one flavour as the best that we ate both together and bowls were licked!
Best Icecream
4 eggs
1/2 pint/400ml whipping or double cream, whipped till billowy
4 oz castor sugar
- Separate the eggs.
- Whisk the whites till stiff as for meringue - use a processor or other machine if you can.
- Whisk in the sugar in several spoonfuls.
- Stir in the yolks quickly.
- Stir in the cream.
This is the basic recipe which with a few drops of vanilla essence plus, if possible, vanilla sugar used makes a lovely plain ice. It can also be flavoured with coffee, see Coffee and Praline Icecream, or with fruit purees. Not everyone has loganberries and you can't often buy them, but raspberries, gooseberries, even strawberries, not cooked but pureed with some lemon added, or any mixture will also work.
Blackcurrant Ripple: a good way to use these sharp berries which so many people are wary of.
In advance: put 1/2 lb/ 250g fruit in a pan on a low heat till it softens and the juice starts to flow. Add a little sugar, perhaps 2 tbs, and let it cook till the berries are really soft. Then cool it, and put through a sieve so you get a thick puree. Taste it to see if it needs more sugar, but don't sweeten too much, you want it to have a strong fruity flavour. When it is cold and your icecream mixture is ready, put half the mixture into a big bowl and stir the puree through quickly, not worrying too much about consistent streaks.Freeze quickly in a box with a lid.
NB: You could use this much puree to flavour a whole batch, either as a less oomphy ripple, epecially if you are just a little afraid of blackcurrants, or stirred though to make a smooth ice.
Loganberry Ice: 1/2 lb/250g fruit cooked and sieved as above, then stirred into half the mixture till smooth.You will need more sugar as these berries really are sharp but keep it strong and fruity.
If you want just one flavour, use 1lb/500g fruit to make a puree.
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