One of my joys, besides baking, is making ice cream and inventing new flavors. I have experimented also with different combinations of fat, milk, sugar, etc., and have found that the gelato combo has the perfect balance for my taste. I used to leave out the egg yolks completely, but now see the richness and smoothness it adds without increasing the cream. Excessive fat leads to an unpleasant almost gritty texture (try Green and Black's ice cream, you'll see what I'm talking about. That brand may brag organic everything, but unfortunately their products are very mediocre, including their chocolates). Now the key to gelato really is the machines. I don't have a gelato maker, but the recipe itself is superior, so I still come out with a better ice cream. However, if you want to get italian perfection, you will have to buy a gelato machine as it allows for less air into the ice cream during the churning process, and you get less water/ice forming onto the ice cream as well as a denser smoother mixture. Now if you have made plenty of homemade ice creams, you'll know what I'm talking about.
I wanted to make lemon ice cream, because I always see lemon sorbet, but can never get an ice cream of the same. I LOVE lemon, but never see it's perfection in most products. Hence, I make my own lemonade, because other lemonades don't cut it. I wanted to make this ice cream taste close to lemon mousseline without all of the tartness, which I think would be unbalanced in an ice cream. The vanilla in this recipe works to cut through some of the zestiness of lemon and add some body. If you like for your lemon to stand out brighter, just omit the vanilla.
Truly Mellow-Yellow Lemon Ice Cream
2 cups milk
1 cup cream
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Juice from half a lemon
5 egg yolks
Pour milk, cream, sugar, and lemon zest into a saucepan. Heat on low until sugar is dissolved and zest is darker in color and fragant (about 10-15 minutes). Do not boil. Turn off heat and stir in vanilla.
Put egg yolks in a bowl and beat with a whisk to make smooth. Pour milk mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl or large measuring cup. While mixture is still warm, pour slowly in a steady stream into the egg yolks, stirring constantly with a whisk. When mixture has cooled down, add the lemon juice through a sieve. Stir until smooth and refrigerate for 24 hours. Make ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker.
Here are some other great flavors I have developed: Mexican chocolate, Indian masala chai, Maple, Pumpkin pie, Super Vanilla (the hands down best vanilla ice cream ever), Pear wine sorbet, Roasted Peach, Christmas Chocolate (a mixture of chocolate, amaretto, coffee and buttermilk).
