March 29, 2010 | Desserts, Fruit
Sometimes all it takes is a little reminder. In this case, when Kay mentioned lemon milk in her post today I was reminded of the most wonderful lemon ice cream I had made at On Rue Tatin, Susan Hermann Loomis’ cooking school in Louviers, France, just outside of Paris. I mentioned to Kay I would make this today, and I’m sticking to my word!
I have some rituals before I travel (a week from today I’ll arrive in Italy!) – pay bills, clean up my desk, make sure the dogs have what they need, leave notes for my husband, turn in writing assignments, talk with my parents, touch base with all of my kids, etc. In the kitchen my rituals include eating up anything that might spoil while I’m away. These lemons and limes were already starting to get soft, but were perfect for this recipe.
I began by zesting the citrus and combining it with sugar in the food processor. You’ll want a Microplane for this as you don’t want huge hunks of zest.
Let the food processor run until the sugar has almost the consistency of wet sand, then add that to 1/2 cup of juice from the fruits and a pinch of salt.
In goes the cream (recipe calls for half and half, but I had cream on hand) and it immediately thickens a bit. I know that seems like curdled milk, and in some sense it is. But it has the most wonderful sweet tanginess to it and it’s ready for the ice cream machine.
Lemon Lime Ice Cream
Adapted from Susan Hermann Loomis
Serves 44 lemons or limes, or a combination
1 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 cups half and half (or cream)Zest citrus and combine with sugar in a food processor. Process until the sugar has the consistency of wet sand. Juice citrus to yield 1 cup and add to sugar; process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Combine citrus mixture with salt and half and half and stir to combine. Pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine and process according to manufacturer’s directions. NOTE: If you use cream instead of half and half this recipe is very rich and a little goes a long way!
Oh, you hooked me in with the lemon/lime combo! We make ice cream all the time and I’m going to have to add this one to my list! Man, it just sounds so good!
I thought that the ice cream was some sort of vanilla. and then I found out that this is a lemon lime flavored ice cream! Amazing! I’m going to try making this one. I love white! Like your ice cream, they look classy and delicious!
[...] inspiration for this ice cream came from Cooking with Michele — I added the orange zest to her lemon and lime, thereby completing the citrus [...]