Lemon and Blueberry Ripple Ice Cream

The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse today.  Yesterday was just grey and cool, with indications that it had rained sometime in the morning.  Today is a torrential downpour accompanied by a very loud thunderstorm.  It's a little exciting I admit.  I don't feel like I've seen a thunderstorm in years.  The last one I really remember was back when I lived in Maidstone and was watching from my bedroom in the attic, which was at least 4 years ago.

Anyway, despite the lack of sunshine, thunderstorms are still a summery thing and here's another summery post with ice cream!  When I was making the cookie dough ice cream last Friday, the fiancé seemed a little down when I told him what it was going to be.  He's more of a fruity ice cream person.  So, since it was Friday and I hadn't ordered the weekly shop yet I decided to make sure I got ingredients to make some ice cream for him.  Now, his favourite of my ice creams I have previously made is lemon. However, I'd been considering mixing it up a bit for a while and since one of his favourite flavour combinations is lemon and blueberry, I thought adding a blueberry ripple to the ice cream would be fun and a bit different.  I've never made a rippled ice cream before so it was going to be interesting.

Actually, the ripple was fairly easy.  The only issue I had with it came from making it much earlier than I needed it.  So what was a nice thick syrup to begin with turned to something resembling jelly.  I mixed it up with a little water though and got something closer to jam, which worked fine.  Really, the main problem I had was with the churning of the ice cream.  My ice cream maker just did not want to churn properly.  Oh, it was moving fine, but it wasn't producing anything other than a slightly cold custard.  I had it going for over two hours before I gave up and did it the old fashioned way.  I kept the custard in the maker's bowl, with the 'whisk' that churns it and put it in the freezer.  I took it out periodically and put it back in the machine to give it five minute churns to break up any ice crystals then returned it to the freezer.  It was slow but I did eventually get a thick ice cream from it.  Not as thick as I would have gotten if the machine was churning but still good.

The fiancé loves it.  I mean, I was expecting him to like the lemon bit but wasn't sure if I pulled off the ripple right.  Turns out I did.  It runs through the ice cream rather beautifully, if I say so myself, and compliments the lemon really well.  You can really taste the blueberry but it doesn't overshadow the lemon.  Hoorah!  Maybe next time I'll try a raspberry ripple.

Recipe - Makes about 1.5L

Lemon Ice Cream:

• 2tbsp grated lemon peel
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz lemon juice
• 170g/6oz caster sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk
• 480ml/16fl.oz whipping cream

Blueberry Ripple - inspired by Valentine Warner via BBC Food:

• 225g/8oz blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 40g/1.5g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water
  

1. Mix together the grated lemon peel, sugar and lemon juice.  Put in the fridge to chill.  The longer it has to chill the more intense the flavour.
2. Beat the salt into the egg yolks.
3. In a saucepan heat the milk until it just starts to boil.
4. Pour the hot milk into the eggs and mix well.
5. Pour back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon, or reaches a temperature of 75°C/170°F. Do not let it boil.
6. Place a sieve over a clean bowl and pour the custard into it, cover with clingfilm and then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
7. Meanwhile, make the blueberry ripple.  Place the blueberries is a medium saucepan along with the sugar and water (if using frozen, give the blueberries a few minutes in the pan to start thawing out before adding the other ingredients).
8. Bring mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down and allow the mixture to simmer, stirring regularly to prevent burning.  Cook until fruit has broken down and you get a slightly thick mixture.
9. Run the mixture through a sieve into a clean saucepan to remove the skin.  Press down on anything still in the sieve with a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.
10. Put the new saucepan back over the heat and boil the mixture, stirring all the time, until it reduces by about half and turns into a thick syrup.
11. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
12. Once the custard is thoroughly chilled, stir the lemon mixture into the custard, followed by the cream.
13. Pour into the ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions until the ice cream is thick and smooth.  (If you don't have an ice cream maker, see instructions below recipe).
14. Put a third of the ice cream into a lidded, freezer safe container.
15. Drizzle half the blueberry ripple mixture on top.  (If your blueberry ripple has become slightly solid, add 1/2 tbsp water and give it a good mix to break it up.  It should resemble jam).
16. Cover with half the remaining ice cream, followed by the rest of the blueberry.  Pour in last of the ice cream.
17. Use a butter knife to ripple the mixture (draw zig-zags, fold some of the mixture over, etc).
18. Freeze overnight before serving.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still do this but it takes much longer.  Once you've added the lemon and cream to the custard, place in the freezer for about two hours.  Remove and whisk thoroughly.  Place back in the freezer for another two hours.  Remove, whisk and put back for 1 hour.  Repeat freezing and whisking every hour until your ice cream is thick and smooth (it took about 10 hours for me to do this).  It won't be quite as churned as it would in an ice cream maker but still tastes delicious.  Carry on with the rest of the recipe after it is thick enough.