Observe the Herb

 

Check out my basil plant.  Isn’t she pretty??

   

I’ve never had much luck growing basil, but this year we we seem to be doing pretty good.  I started with seeds this time (instead of seedlings), and I planted them pretty early (end of March, I think).  Hopefully we can survive the hot summer and get some good use out of this plant!

So when you have a gazillion basil leaves, the first thought that comes to mind is to make pesto.  Well, someone recently gave us some home-made pesto, so we didn’t really need more of it.  Time to break out of the mold and make something wacky with basil! 

Naturally, we decided to go with basil ice cream.  Funky, yet cool and sophisticated!

 

After a couple spins through the salad spinner, my poor basil gets chopped up into bits.  Hmm, it seems to have lost some of its luster on the chopping block.

Then it goes into a pot of milk and sugar with a pinch of salt.  After it boils, it seeps for 30 minutes.  Essentially….basil tea.  This is the strangest tea you’ve never had. 

Blend my pretties!! 

 

Now for the ice cream.  We whipped 4 egg yolks with a little sugar until they were nice and fluffy.  This recipe calls for much more egg than our usual recipe.  It really showed in the texture of the final product.  Very creamy and scoopable.

We then added the pureed basil tea.

Then it goes back into the pot to slowly bring it up to just under a boil in order to thicken it.  This is what we call crème anglaise (French for “English cream).  It’s a custard typically used as a base for ice cream.  The mixture was then poured through a fine metal strainer to give it a smooth consistency.

We let it cool down for about 30 minutes, and then we stirred in some whipping cream. 

And then it goes into our trusty ice cream maker.  We love this thing!  Twenty-five minutes later, you have ice cream, but it’s not really cold enough to eat.  Unfortunately you have to whisk it away into the freezer and wait a good 6-8 hours before you can eat it.  S-I-G-H.

But when you finally get to eat it, you find that it was totally worth the wait.  The basil flavor is quite pronounced, but not overly powerful.  It has a good, subtle sweetness to it, and it pairs well with berries and a wee bit of cookie.  Scrumptious!