Making ice cream

2 weeks ago, just before I returned to work, I had the slightly mad idea of inviting 25 people over for lunch. I've made an incredible number of friends over the years through my work with Habitat for Humanity, and I thought it might be a good idea to invite everyone I've met through Habitat for a bit of a catch up. We all come from very different walks of life, from people in the US Air Force to Yorkshire miners, and I do feel my life has been very enriched by being able to learn from such a diverse group of people.

I did become a bit obsessed as to what to cook everyone. I had initially thought of doing a barbeque, but obviously, the day came and it promptly started raining at 11am, so it turned into somewhat of an oven party. To be honest, most of the savoury food was good mainly because they came from excellent suppliers. The most special mention has to go to the sausages from The Sausage Shop in Trimley, Felixstowe. Rod and Diane of The Sausage Shop live next door to my family home, and their sausages are incredible! My parents have to export some to me every time they're in London.

The one thing I cooked that everyone loved was the ice cream. I really shouldn't tell anyone, but making ice cream is one of those things that seems very impressive, but is dead dead easy. And I don't even have an ice cream maker. This recipe is from the lovely Rosalind from The Cookery School:

Rhubarb ice cream (enough for lots of Habitat mouths)

For the rhubarb compote:
450g rhubarb
100g sugar

For the ice cream:
1 pint single cream
3 oz caster sugar
3 egg yolks

1. First make the compote. Clean the rhubarb, removing any tough bits and chop into inch long pieces. Wash it well, but allow some of the water in which it has been washed to cling to the pieces as this will provide moisture whilst cooking.
2. Place the rhubarb in saucepan and gently bring to the boil. Use a lid to keep the steam in the pan so keep it moist. Once it comes to the boil, turn down the heat and cook until the rhubarb collapses - remember to stir from time to time so it doesn't stick - it is very quick, only takes 5-10 minutes.

3. When the rhubarb starts to collapse, add the sugar and allow to continue cooking slowly until you get a nice rhubarby sauce.
4. Taste for tartness and add more sugar if necessary. I usually make sure it is a little tarter than you'd think as the ice cream is quite sweet, plus I do lack that sweet tooth. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

5. Make the ice cream: beat the egg yolks and half the sugar together until thick and creamy.

6. Bring the single cream and remainder of the sugar to the boil, careful to switch the heat off immediately after boiling point is reached.
7. Pour the cream slowly onto the egg mixture, beating all the time to avoid curdling. Then return the mixture to the saucepan you used to boil the cream and cook on a very low heat, whisking until the mixture thickens.
8. Be careful not to overcook the custard or it will curdle. It is 'cooked' when it coats the back of a metal spoon:

9. Cool the mixture to room temperature, then add the cooled compote into the custard. I normally don't mix it in too well to get more of a ripple effect.
10. If you're blessed with an ice cream maker, at this point, chill the mixture and then churn in your ice cream maker as per your manufacturers' instructions.
11. If you're relying on good old elbow crease, put the mixture into a freezer-proof dish and allow it to freeze until the sides are starting to set (takes about an hour). Remove from the freezer and beat well, beating down all the ice crystals. Return to the freezer.
12. Every hour or so after this, take the ice cream out and beat it thoroughly, and do this about 3-4 times. The more you beat it the smoother the ice cream will be.
13. Eat in small quantities - it is very rich!

The other variation I made was dime bar ice cream. This is inspired by the infamous G&D's ice cream parlour in Oxford, the site of all our guilty pleasures during my uni days. Instead of making the rhubarb compote, put 3 dime bars into a blender until you get this glassy looking sand mixture. It will smell incredible. Then add to the custard mixture when it has completely cooled, and freeze/beat in the same fashion.