whine & dine

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Ever since I got my ice cream maker, a few chocoholic friends of mine have been endlessly bugging me to make chocolate ice cream. Originally, I’d only wanted to make a mayan chocolate flavour, since that’s my favourite type of hot chocolate. However, with my Hong Kong and Vietnam trips coming up, and one of the abovementioned chocoholics about to return to the US for school, I caved after realising that I just don’t have enough time to experiment slowly.

Two of them, G and W came over for dinner last night, and Sunday found me frantically flipping through my cookbooks for a chocolate ice cream recipe. The reason why I was so frantic was because the only flavours I’m really comfortable with are vanilla and other similarly infused-milk/infused-custard flavours. Thank goodness for that copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Just Desserts which I picked up from my neighbourhood haunt, Pantry Magic.

In Just Desserts, Ramsay writes that while he recommends most home made ice creams to be created based on a good crème anglaise (which most of us home ice cream makers know by now), he also makes some others with pâte à bombe. He also had an interesting-sounding recipe for Chocolate and Thyme Ice Cream, which is based on pâte à bombe.

That’s right – chocolate and thyme. I thought it sounded a bit strange too, but after reading through the recipe, I figured that A) it really wasn’t that much thyme, and B) he’s Gordon Ramsay. If it fails, I can always just blame him, and who can possibly blame me for trying! Thankfully, the ice cream turned out delicious – better than delicious, in fact! It was amazing. It is by far the smoothest ice cream I’ve ever eaten. The texture is amazing, and the rich chocolate flavour which is tempered by that subtle hint of thyme in the background seriously…. kicks ass. Yup – I’m out of descriptives.

Chocolate Thyme Ice Cream
(adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Just Desserts)

1 quantity pâte à bombe (recipe follows)
250ml full fat milk
50g caster sugar
6 large fresh sprigs of thyme
220g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)
250ml double cream (at least 40% milk fat)

Make the pâte à bombe and set aside.

Place the milk and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat and bring to the boil. Remove from heat, add the thyme sprigs and set aside to infuse for 20 minutes.

Break up the chocolate (I used chocolate buttons, so I didn’t need to bother with this step) and place in a large heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until it starts to steam, just before it comes to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate and stir with a whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is homogeneous. Strain the infused milk in slowly, whisking throughout, then set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Fold the pâte à bombe into the cooled chocolate mixture. Churn and freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Yield: About 1.2 litres

Pâte à bombe
(taken from Just Desserts)

100ml water
150g caster sugar
5 large free-range egg yolks
sugar thermometer

Place the water and sugar in a small heavy-based saucepan and heat slowly until dissolved and completely clear, stirring once or twice. Once the syrup is clear, increase the heat to high and place a sugar thermometer in the pan.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl using a hand-held electric mixer on full speed until pale yellow, thick and creamy.

Continue to boil the syrup until it reaches a temperature of 120C, or the ‘hard ball stage’ – when a little of the hot syrup dropped into a glass of cold water forms a firm, clear ball. This should take 5-7 minutes. Another good indication is when the syrup just begins to turn light caramel at the edges. As soon as the syrup reaches this stage, remove from the heat.

With the electric beaters still whirring, trickle the just-boiled syrup onto the whisked egg yolks slowly.

Carry on whisking with the mixer on full speed so the pâte à bombe increases in volume and becomes creamy.

Once the mixture is a thick foam (it should look like whipping cream that’s been whipped to soft peaks), it may be used for ice creams and parfaits.

(For mousses, you will need it to be slightly thicker, so you’ll have to place the mixture over a bain marie and heat for another 5 minutes, whisking throughout, then remove from heat and whisk until it has cooled to room temperature.)

Pâte à bombe should be used at room temperature, or stored, chilled, for up to 2 days. If making in advance, whisk it well again before using.

Yield: About 350ml