Sometimes when I feel average about myself I go and make a tub of ice cream and then I remember how great I am. This ice cream is the tits. Soz Dad I just said tits on the internet.
I know I shouldn't boast because our tall poppy culture despises self praise but right now I couldn't give a fat rat's arse. This is amazing and probably my new favourite ice cream of all time, that includes the ones bought at fancy pants stores.
I still have a stash of lemons hiding in the second fridge but the acquisition of some wonderful free range eggs from my friend's parents over the weekend made the idea of curd even more inviting.
Curd by itself is good but curd in ice cream is hella better.
I may also be well and truly on the ice cream making bandwagon after finally moving into a flat with sufficient freezer space so I can permanently store my ice cream bowl for easy ice cream making access.
You will need to start making this two nights before you want to eat it. I recommend that you make it now in anticipation for your next craving of amazing. The secret to this is patience, make sure everything is as cold as possible before churning. If not it will just end up a dense frozen mess.
You will unfortunately need a churner for this. I got bright watermelon pink Cusineart one for a chirpy $129. It at least looks cool if it does just end up sitting idle on the shelf for most of the year.
Lemon Curd and Raspberry Ice Cream
Makes 1L
For the base:
2 cups cream (35% fat)
1 3/4 cups low fat milk (I used 1.5% fat)
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup lemon curd
For the curd (makes about 2 cups):
Juice of 3 large lemons
1 cup sugar
50g salted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup frozen raspberries, chopped (do not defrost)
Ice cream base
Place the ice cream bowl of your churner in the freezer overnight.
To make the ice cream base (which is essentially a custard), warm your milk and cream in a medium sized saucepan and in a separate bowl beat together the egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest. I do this second part in my Kitchenaid with the whisk attachment to make life easier.
Once the Milk and cream are just below a simmer remove the pan from the heat and with the beater still going start to pour in the milk slowly one cup at a time. Do this so that the eggs don't scramble. Continue to beat and pour until all the milk/cream has been added. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the egg and sugar is mixed in.
Transfer this mix back to the saucepan and continue to heat on a very low heat until the custard thickens slightly. It should coat the back of a spoon but it won't get thick like store bought custard. DO NOT BOIL. You will scramble the eggs and this cannot be fixed, you will need to start again.
Once the custard is cooked, transfer to a plastic container, cover lightly and once at room temperature place in the fridge overnight.
Curd
To make the curd, place the sugar, juice and butter in a heatproof bowl sitting suspended over a small pan of boiling water until the sugar dissolves.
Once all the sugar has dissolved then remove the bowl from the water and start quickly whisking the lemon mix. Very slowly pour in the beaten eggs into the centre of the whisk's path and whisk the egg in. Once again if you do this too quickly the eggs will scramble. To make things easier you could leave the lemon mix to cool for ten minutes before whisking in the egg.
Once all the egg has been added and well whisked in, return the bowl to the pan of simmering water. Reglarly stir the curd until it thickens to that of a pourable yoghurt.
Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature before covering and popping in the fridge overnight.
Assemble
The next day, assemble your ice cream machine and place your ice cream storage vessel in the freezer to cool.
Pour in the chilled custard mix and turn your machine on. Let it churn for 15 minutes or until it resembles soft serve before adding in 1/4 cup of the lemon curd.
Leave to churn for another 10 minutes until it does not thicken anymore - a thick soft serve consistency.
Turn the machine off, remove the churning paddle then fold in the remaining 1/2 cup of curd and the frozen raspberries.
Quickly transfer this to your chilled ice cream container and return it to the freezer overnight to harden.
The next day you can take to it with an ice cream scoop or just a spoon headed straight to your mouth.
Enjoy!