Quick, what’s the best part about a Meatless Monday dinner? It’s got to be that you can have ice cream for dessert!
You already know we love making ice cream, and David Lebovitz is one of the best sources for no-fail ice cream recipes. He served his white chocolate and fresh ginger ice cream with nectarine-cherry compote, but I just served it plain, and still got rave reviews. The ice cream was so creamy and the ginger flavor was perfect – not too strong, but still present. So if it’s winter and you still want to make ice cream but don’t want to pay $10/lb for cherries and nectarines to put on top, just skip them!
Actually, I think I may have a couple of bites of this still sitting in my freezer. Excuse me while I go check…
I used my Kitchenaid ice cream bowl attachment, but you can use a regular ice cream maker, too.
White Chocolate and Fresh Ginger Ice Cream from David Lebovitz
About 1 quart (1 liter)
Ingredients:
- 3-inch piece (2 to 2 1/2 ounces) fresh ginger, unpeeled (I used a frozen ginger root that I stored in my freezer, leftover from this dinner)
- 2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
- 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
- 1 cup plus 1 cup heavy cream (500 ml, total)
- 8 ounces (230 g) white chocolate chips
- 5 large egg yolks
Directions:
- Slice the ginger thinly, cover it with water in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Drain away the water but return the blanched ginger to the pan. Add the sugar, the milk and 1 cup of heavy cream to the saucepan and re-warm the mixture.
- Cover and steep for at least an hour, or until you are satisfied with the ginger flavor.
- Put the white chocolate chips in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the ginger-infused cream mixture, whisking constantly as you pour in the warm cream. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the white chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Discard the ginger. Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream and chill thoroughly. You can set the bowl over an ice bath to speed it up.
- Chill mixture thoroughly (I refrigerated it overnight), then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
