Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

• Guinness Ice Cream Recipe and Tomato Ice Cream Recipe •

Harping on about ice cream!
Last week's column <click here> covered the intricacies of basic ice cream making. This week we take what we have learnt and progress, we are going to take the basics and give them a wee bit of a twist.

Once you have an ice cream machine, if you are like me you want to just make more and more. You will want to take things to new heights and try something different. This week's two recipes do just that.

To serve ice creams in a neat quenelle (rugby ball shape) take a dessert or kitchen spoon (with a pointed end) and dip into warm water. Drag this atop the ice cream applying light pressure. This should 'scoop' the ice cream up into a wonderful quenelle shape.

Reminders!

• Turn on your ice cream machine ahead of time; before you start any other preparation, so it is chilled ready to go when you need it
• Both of these ice creams are of the 'easy to make' raw variety. As the egg is not cooked great care must be taken to ensure the eggs are as fresh as possible and prepared with the highest hygiene standards. I suggest they are made and eaten within 3 hours
• If you place the ice cream into the freezer and it hardens too much, remove from the freezer 20 minutes before use and allow it to soften before use
• If you are serving it in wine glasses, fill them as soon as the ice cream is made (while it is nice and soft and easily workable) and place the glasses carefully into the freezer

Hygiene Note
If you are a little wary of making ice cream without first cooking the eggs, then simply use the above recipe ingredients, but replace the method with the cooked version I shared with you last week.

Guinness Ice Cream

The colour of this final ice cream is very akin to the colour of the foam on the head of Guinness. Which makes for an interesting array of presentation ideas.

Ingredients

Guinness	350	ml
cream	350	ml
egg yolks	3	pc
castor sugar	75	gm
vanilla essence	1/2	tsp

Method

1. Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan (it will froth up when heated) and heat to simmering point
2. Allow to simmer until it has reduced to 100ml
3. Once the Guinness has reduced place in a cold container and place in the freezer until cold (if it is too warm it may curdle the egg yolks)
4. While the Guinness is simmering, place the egg yolks cream, castor sugar and vanilla essence into a glass or stainless steel bowl and whisk until thickened and almost white in colour. Set aside in the chiller until required
5. Pour the Guinness into the egg mixture and lightly whisk to combine
6. Pour into the ice cream machine

Chef's Tip:

Serve as either a dessert on its own or as part of a more complex dessert

Try serving it in a wine glass, champagne flute with a layer of blueberries and then finish with a layer of very lightly whipped cream to mimic the colour etc of the Guinness

Tomato Ice Cream

Unusual to say the least, well on first impression any way…..but after all tomato is just another fruit!

Ingredients

Tomato juice	350	ml
cream	350	ml
egg yolks	3	pc
castor sugar	75	gm
Thai sweet chilli sauce	2	tsp

Method

1. Pour the tomato juice into a large saucepan and heat to simmering point
2. Allow to simmer until it has reduced to 150ml
3. Once the juice has reduced place in a cold container and place in the freezer until cold (if it is too warm it may curdle the egg yolks)
4. While the juice is simmering, place the egg yolks cream, castor sugar and chilli sauce into a glass or stainless steel bowl and whisk until thickened and almost white in colour. Set aside in the chiller until required
5. Pour the juice into the egg mixture and lightly whisk to combine
6. Pour into the ice cream machine

Chef's Tip:

Given the flavours involved with this ice cream I suggest you serve it as part of a cheese dessert or as an appetiser with a twist, for example:

• Place a nicely cut wedge of your favourite cheddar in the centre of a plate, place a wedge of brie on top and finish with a wedge of blue cheese; they should balance nicely. Insert a fresh bayleaf for garnish
• On one side of the cheeses place a spoonful of crème fraiche and carefully sprinkle a thin line of paprika along it
• On the other side place a quenelle of the ice cream and rest another quenelle on the side of it, garnish with a sprig of fresh fennel or dill

Enjoy and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 07 April 2003