FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PROPER OLD FASHIONED RHUBARB CREAM ICE CREAM

25 May 2014

PROPER OLD FASHIONED RHUBARB CREAM ICE CREAM

This ice cream recipe lived up to all my glorious childhood memories of sunny days spent on a windy beach with Nan and Grandad, the wind breakers all set up, buckets and spades and no sand! and frustratingly waiting for lunch time so I could eat the picnic I had helped Nan make along with the constant asking of (can we have a ice cream yet!) knowing I had to wait till after our picnic lunch for our ice-cream!

Ingredients

(makes 1 litre)

600ml rich Jersey cream

200ml Jersey milk

3 large egg yolks (55g) ish

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g fine caster sugar

600g rhubarb

150g caster sugar

If you do not have an ice cream machine don't worry you just place the ice cream in a tub in the freezer and every half hour stir the ice cream, you will need to repeat this until the mix becomes soft ice cream. The advantage of a ice cream maker is it removes the chances of ice crystals forming in the ice cream because it freezes the ice cream fast.

In a bowl whisk the sugar, vanilla, cream and milk together, place in a saucepan warm through for five minutes, do not allow to simmer, take of the heat while, next place the egg yolks in a bowl with the pinch of salt, pour the hot cream over the egg yolks whisking all the time, return the mix to the pan and bring up to 85 degrees slowly, keep whisking all the time, cook for 5 minutes, this is to sterilise the egg yolks and cream, once you have done this take off the heat and leave to cool on the side for up to 1 hour before using or putting in the fridge and use over the next 48 hours, this is your ice cream.

Chop the rhubarb into generous cubes, sprinkle with the sugar and approx 50ml water, simmer for around five minutes with a lid on the pan until the rhubarb is super soft and no liquid is left, blended the rhubarb to make the texture super smooth in the ice cream, leave to one side to cool.

Now to turn this gorgeous custard into scrumptious ice-cream, I used my ice cream maker machine, I poured in the vanilla cream base and added 600g of the rhubarb compote to the mix and just turned on the ice cream maker for 20 minutes, well I must admit to eating a third of the mix before it went into the ice cream maker because it was so gorgeous!!! Place your soft scoop ice cream into a tub and place in the freezer until needed, and enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.