Ice creams and sorbets flavoured with herbs are a cool and wonderful way to end a meal. I have been inspired by the huge range of recipes from the Victorian writer and cook, Mrs Isabella Beeton. I have six coloured drawings of sophisticated food from her books on the walls of my kitchen. And I have several of her old books, including the enormous Book of Household Management. She loved recipes for sorbets and ice creams. One book, Cold Sweets, published in 1925, has over 60 different iced recipes as well as pictures of ices and drawings of complicated moulds used for freezing the creations.
I have devised many iced recipes over the years but I am particularly delighted with my Bay Ice Cream and Sorrel Ice Cream. Homemade ices have a purity of flavour as they are made from fresh ingredients. I like ice cream smooth and rich, so I use egg yolks, sugar and double/ heavy cream, infusing the hot mixture with herbs for flavour.
But making sorbets and ice creams by hand can be hard work and sometimes a bit hit and miss. Unless you want to whisk them with a fork or electric beater from time to time as they freeze, you’ll need a machine. The cheap, compact version I have used for over 20 years, is made up of an insulated bowl that needs to be frozen for 24 hours before making the recipe. Or, for ten times the price, you can buy large machines that make an ice cream or sorbet at the touch of a button. One model even plays the icecream van jingle to tell you the ice cream is ready!
My recipes using double/heavy cream and egg yolks are not as healthy as making ice cream with thick yogurt, but they are delicious and they work. If you make ice creams with half-fat milk or sorbets with too much water they can turn out solid or crystalline. A machine makes it easier to achieve an ice of perfect consistency and to time it for serving towards the end of the meal. To make ice cream by hand, put the mixture in a plastic tub and remove it from the freezer every few hours, breaking up the ice crystals with a fork. Do this three or four times during freezing.
If you are storing homemade ice cream in the freezer, take it out to soften in the refrigerator about 25 minutes before you plan to serve it.
BASIC ICE CREAM
Starting with a basic ice cream custard, you add favourite herbs for flavour much like you can add a vanilla pod/ bean to a recipe. The three I describe here are very special to me. But other herbs like lavender and thyme work well, too. It is worth experimenting.
Preparation: 10 mins, plus cooling and freezing
Cooking : 20 mins
Ice creams and sorbets all serve 4–6
500ml/17fl oz/generous 2 cups double/heavy cream
5 egg yolks
100g/3½oz/½ cup caster/superfine sugar
Gently heat the cream to just boiling point. Take off the heat immediately and leave to cool.
In a large bowl, beat the yolks and sugar together. Pour the cooled cream into this mixture, beating all the time. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and heat very gently until the mixture thickens, stirring all the time for at least 10 minutes. Take care not to overheat because you could end up with something looking more like scrambled egg than smooth custard. Cool and store until you want to make the ice cream either with a machine or in the freezer, as described opposite.
BAY ICE CREAM
Adding bay lends the ice cream a subtle, clove-scented and spicy flavour – and it can also be used as the base for my Bay-Infused Crème Brulée (see page 182).
1 recipe quantity Basic Ice Cream (see opposite)
5 fresh bay leaves
Heat the cream as in the basic recipe, adding 5 bay leaves to the pan. Allow the cream to cool and leave to infuse for a few hours. Sieve out the leaves and continue with the recipe as described.
ROSE PETAL ICE CREAM
Deep pink flowers are good for flavour.
6 large, scented roses
1 recipe quantity Basic Ice Cream (see opposite)
1–3 tbsp rosewater, if needed
Remove the petals and rinse. Trim off the bitter white part at the base of some rose petals. Put the petals in a pan with the cream and heat as per the basic recipe. Allow the cream to cool and leave to infuse for a few hours. Sieve out the petals and continue with the recipe, adding rosewater for extra flavour, if necessary.
SORREL ICE CREAM
This unusual ice cream has a refreshing, lemony flavour and a bright green colour if blended. Using the citric (or ascorbic) acid stops the normal oxidization that would make the sorrel go brown, so it keeps its green colour.
1 recipe quantity Basic Ice Cream (see opposite)
a handful of sorrel (about 80g/2¾oz)
6g/¼oz/heaped 1 tsp citric acid
Make the custard base and leave to cool. Meanwhile, wash the sorrel, spin it dry, remove the stalks and chop finely. Mix the uncooked sorrel and the citric acid into the cooled custard, blend well in a food processor if you want that bright green colour, then continue with the recipe.
SORBETS
Scenting a sorbet with herbs may sound odd, but it produces an exotic and pure taste that is totally refreshing. Many flavours can be added, including thyme, mint, lavender, sweet cicely, rose petals, pineapple or blackcurrant sage, calamint or the lemon verbena here. You can adapt the basic sorbet base for any herbs you like.
LEMON VERBENA SORBET
This is a great recipe to make when you are pruning your own plant or you are able to beg a branch from a friend.
140g/5oz caster/scant ¾ cup superfine sugar
80 lemon verbena leaves
250ml/9fl oz/generous 1 cup dry white wine
juice of ½ lemon
Dissolve the sugar in 500ml/17fl oz/generous 2 cups of water and boil hard for 8 minutes to make a syrup. Add the lemon verbena leaves and 250ml/9fl oz/generous 1 cup more water and bring slowly to the boil. Take off the heat and add the wine. Cover and cool overnight. Sieve out the leaves, add the lemon juice and make it into a sorbet using a machine or the freezer method (see opposite).
