Ice Cream Girl

I bought an ice cream maker, and last night was its christening. It's pretty simple, just takes a little time - you freeze the bowl for at least a day, then you combine all the ingredients in the frozen bowl, let the machine do its thing for about 20, 25 minutes, and then you store the freshly made ice cream in the freezer for another 1-2 hours. What better to do in that time that prepare and eat dinner, I thought, so that's what we did.

I roasted a chicken, beer-can style. Sliced one of Sherri's fine Meyer lemons very thin and stuffed the slices under the chicken's skin. Rubbed it with salt and pepper, sat it on the beer can, and put it in the oven. Anna had a flat of portobello mushrooms, which she stuffed with sausage, onion, parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs, and baked in the oven. We had a salad of arugula, tomatoes, and cucumber on the side, and forgot all about the baguette and the potatoes.

My first attempt at ice cream turned out well. I figured I ought to start with plain vanilla, and used the recipe in the ice cream maker manual/recipe booklet:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• (I added: seeds from one vanilla bean)

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn the machine on, about 20 to 25 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

A fine meal and great time was had by all. For my next trick: strawberry ice cream.

Comments

[finny]

Ooh! Nice! I do love our little ice cream maker a bunch and we had some great strawberry ice cream from it last year. Good times.

On a separate note, we once had a guy come to our door (not in our current neighborhood) and ask if we would trade him a can of beer for his bottle of beer. To which we both said, "Wha?"

He was making beer can chicken, don't you know.