xraytheenforcer | Ice Cream!

We bought heavy cream at the market on Saturday to put on our porridge, but we had a fair bit left over and thus I decided to make ice cream. But which flavor? Maple syrup? Ginger? Some kind of liqueur? Of all of my suggestions, Doug decided he liked "black peppercorn" the best. So I made black and pink peppercorn ice cream today.

I also poached a chicken and made lentils -- our dinners and lunches, respectively, for the rest of the week.

Black and Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream
1.5 cups whole milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns

Crush black peppercorns with a rolling pin. Mix milk, cream, sugar and black peppercorns in a medium saucepan and heat on medium until it simmers. Take it off the heat and let it infuse for at least 20 minutes. After infusion, bring to a simmer again.

While cream base is infusing, put egg yolks into a medium size bowl and whisk until smooth.

Temper the egg yolks by pouring the cream base into the bowl in a thin stream while whisking. Continue whisking until all of the cream is added. Strain this mixture through a fine-mesh sieve back into the saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Cool in an ice bath.

Once cool, put into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions. During freezing, add crushed pink peppercorns plus a few generous grinds of the pepper mill for additional black pepper.

**this turned out a bit more custard-y than I normally like ice cream -- I'd probably decrease the number of yolks next time, or use fewer eggs, but use them whole.