09 April, 2010

Cardamom Ice Cream

Save for a few days over Easter and our wedding anniversary I've been single parenting the last two weeks. What I wouldn't do for beer and chocolate every single night. And intravenous caffeine first thing in the morning. But it's just another week in an absolutely crazy month. And all you can do is put one foot in front of another, type another key, cook another meal, and eat another bowl of ice cream.

Yes, another bowl of ice cream. For every day that I remember to buy cream when I steal a moment to buy groceries I dream about ice cream. Okay, that's a slight overstatement, but only slightly.

Once I called my neighbour over to save me by digging through the mess in the basement (I can still can't make my way to the basement yet) to find the base of the ice cream maker I could make my dreams come true. Cardamom ice cream here I come!

And oh, did that ice cream do it for me. It's quite rich. Ridiculously rich. And while I doubted the cardamom taste when making the custard it came through perfectly in the finished product. Adding rhubarb was a way to tease myself into spring (despite the snow storm we got this week) and soften the richness of the ice cream.

Cardamom Ice Cream with Lightly Stewed Rhubarb
(Adapted from delicious March 2010)
Serves 6 (or 1 tired mom over a few days)

Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
8 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
5 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
300 ml can of sweetened condensed milk

Rhubarb
6 stalks rhubarb
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons water

1. Steep the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods in the cream and milk. Bring to medium heat in a saucepan. Just before it boils turn off the heat and let it sit for an hour. Strain and discard the spices.
2. Whisk the eggs and the sugar until pale. Add the infused milk/cream, whisking constantly. Pour into a clean saucepan and cook over low/medium heat, stirring, for 5-8 minutes until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, add the condensed milk, and pour into a clean bowl or jug. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
3. Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Pour into a freezable container and freeze until firm.
4. Half hour before serving chop the rhubarb and combine with the other ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but is still holding it's shape.  Set aside to cool.
5. Serve ice cream on top of cooled rhubarb.

5 comments:

Jan (Family Bites) said...

I love how much you love ice cream....I feel the same way!

Vivian said...

Since fresh rhubarb isn't available in our area just yet (did you buy it in an Edmonton store?) I imagine frozen would do, yes? And may I ask what you have in mind for the 5 egg whites? I love recipes that dovetail so that you end up using all the eggs. Last week I was left with 7 egg yolks after using the whites for ganache. I turned part of them into Lemon Curd. Hooray!

Vivian said...

OOPS..Cheryl, I see now that you are based in Calgary...my bad. Still, I don't think you guys are much ahead of your northern sister-city in terms of available fresh spring offerings...I think we all got hit by that dastardly storm last week!

Charmian @Christie's Corner said...

What an amazing flavour combination. I adore rhubarb with ice cream and think this would be worth calling in the neighbour for.

Hope you shared at least a small bowl with the person who dug out the ice cream drum.

Julie said...

Damn - that's what I've been missing - the ice cream!