French Fridays with Dorie
Olive Oil Ice Cream
I hope you will pardon my brevity as I begin posting a few French Friday’s with Dorie assignments over the next few days. I’ll start with this week’s assignment and go backwards.
I knew the idea of olive oil ice cream would seem a bit odd to the people I would end up sharing it with later. So of course I made it anyway. Or perhaps I made it because of this. I do like pushing the culinary envelope now and then and if this was going to be a stretch at least it had 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla to help it go down.
I had previously enjoyed olive oil muffins and lemon olive oil cake so I had a pretty good idea that olive oil ice cream would work out just fine.
The recipe itself is a pretty straightforward cooked custard vanilla ice cream that subs in 1/2 cup of olive oil instead of some of the dairy. See how easy it is to be as chic as Paris’ L’Avant-Goût from where Dorie got her inspiration?
The real chic approach to this dessert is in how you serve it and since I was aping L’Avant-Goût I decided to drizzle some lemon olive oil over the top and a few grains of fluer de sel. Great idea. The salt brought up the subtle olive notes in the ice cream and with the oil’s peppery finish left a slight sweet/heat after flavor that drove home the point that this was not your usual vanilla ice cream.
Tomorrow night we are drizzling balsamic vinegar and strawberries over it.
(with Lemon Infused Olive Oil and Fluer de Sel) adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table
This is what you will need:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pinch of flour de del
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Lemon infused olive oil (for drizzling)
- fluer de sel
This is how you make it:
- Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a medium sauce pan.
- While it is heating up whip the egg yolks and sugar with a whisk until very well blended and slightly thickened.
- While whisking rapidly the yolks slowly pour in roughly 1/3 of the milk mixture.
- Once the eggs have absorbed the milk mixture you can whisk in the remaining milk/cream a little more quickly.
- Add the salt and then pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
- Heat up the mixture over a medium heat while stirring with a wooden spoon until thickened.
- Custard will be done when you can leave a track when you drag your finger across the back of a wooden spoon.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard through a strainer into a medium bowl.
- Add the olive oil and the vanilla and stir until thoroughly mixed.
- Chill the mixture 4 hours or overnight and then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
- To serve, put two scoops in a cup and drizzle a small amount of the lemon infused olive oil over the top and then a slight pinch of fluer de sel.
Dorie suggests using a fruity olive oil without a peppery finish. I disagreed so I used a very fruity olive oil with a distinct peppery finish. If L’Avant-Goût’s version can stand up to caramelized olives then then you can bet yours can handle a peppery finish. In fact, where I to do this one again I would steep the milk in black peppercorns to give it even more heat and kick.
I would bet that many who tried this ice cream thought the flavor was a bit too subtle and I would pretty much agree. Next time I will cut the vanilla too.
Wish I would have used a peppery oil instead of the “fruity” one called for that I used. Mine was way too sweet. I like your adaptions!
I want this in my mouth now!
The balsamic strawberries should pair very well. I think salt is a great crunchy addition too. Have a good weekend!
So I’m not the only one who hadn’t had the time to post Dorie’s weekly assigned recipes! I’m glad you used the peppery olive oil because I can imagine how good that would taste in this luscious ice cream. And additional lemony olive oil on top, such genius! 🙂
I actually wanted to try this with olive oil and salt, but my darling husband accidentally put the container back in the fridge instead of the freezer, and the next day I discovered that I had ice cream was soup. Oh well. I just spent the morning flipping through The Perfect Scoop to find the next candidate for my ice cream maker.
Oh, for an ice cream machine! Balsamic strawberries sounds like a perfect pairing for what I imagine olive oil ice cream to taste like.
I have lemon oil and this recipe sounds perfect for it. I’ve only tasted olive oil ice cream and I liked the taste.
I love balsamic strawberries over anything.. even over a spoon.
I think a peppery oil would have been lovely here. Perhaps with a little bit of cracked pepper (some coarsely crushed pink peppercorns) mixed in and a red zinfandel reduction? Hmmmmm
I might have to use the little bit of the Meyer lemon olive oil I have left to top the ice cream. I’m sure it will be the right way to say goodbye to such a good buy.
(A bad pun is not substitute for haiku verse. You have ruined me)
Oh, this would have been my second post for Dories Friday and I really wanted to make this but I do not have an ice cream maker, but I have enjoyed your version and I would have loved to try this. Very nice. Going to check out how others fared, Happy Firday,
so interesting! i just got my brother-in-law an ice cream maker. will pass this recipe along…
I thought the same thing about steeping the milk in peppercorns! We really like this ice cream!
I ran into some skepticism when I told people the flavor but this ice cream won them over in the end! I wish I had some left to put balsamic strawberries over. Guess I just have to make it again to give that a try! :)Love the little glass you served it in. If only I had the cabinetry for all the glassware I covet!
Interesting that you liked the peppery flavor and actually wanted to heighten it maybe more extreme would be better. I like the idea of the balsamic vinegar and strawberries. Do you have a brand you recommend?
I like that you were adventurous with this recipe and I’m curious about the peppercons steeped in milk to kick up the flavor – we always use them when we poach pears in wine. Come to think of it, this ice cream would be great with wine-poached pears! But, I love your alternate version with strawberries & balsamic, too.
Have a great weekend!
Interesting! I like your touches and agree that Dorie’s dishes need some oomph now and then. I would totally eat this!!!!
The balsamic vinegar sounds good, especially with strawberries. Great job, looks so
delicious. I skipped this week but Tricia brought some over to taste and we really enjoyed it.
Your ideas sound very interesting – a different kind of olive oil makes a huge difference in the way this ice cream tastes like. I agree that one should choose the olive oil that one likes the best, fruity or peppery, with lemon, etc. it depends a bit on who will be eating this, of course. Balsamic stawberries and peppercorns steeped in the milk – intriguing ideas!
Have a good weekend and enjoy the ice cream with the aceto balsamico and strawberries!
Like you I do like lots of flavor,so the peppercorn idea sounds like a winner as well as balsamic strawberries. It will be interesting to look around at the Dorista’s posts and see how many completely enjoyed it as is or had to add something or put a topping on it to be satisfied.
Enjoy the weekend as well as that tasty ice cream Trevor!
I love what you did with this ice cream…the idea of lemon and salt sound great! I was thinking of balsamic strawberries as a topping, too! I will have to make this again just so I can try a few different toppings! Someone mentioned limoncello…yum! Enjoy your weekend! Great post!
Mmm…I know I would love it with strawberries and balsamic vinegar. The lemon and salt version looks pretty good as well.
I was too chicken to go outside the recipe this time, since I was having a tough time getting my head around the combo to begin with 🙂 Nana and I were more than pleasantly surprised but I think we need to play around with your suggestions and be brave. I think I can be pretty brave when we are dealing with ice cream……
Wow, that looks awesome! So yummy! I think the strawberries and balsamic would really enhance the flavors of the ice cream!
Oddly I tasted a (very peppery) olive oil ice cream just last night in a restaurant. Cleo’s in Hollywood. Sometimes it’s like we have the same brain. GREG
Yum! Salt & pepper. Yes. Nicely done.
Yum! Next time I will try the peppery finish approach. Not that I need to make a habit out of making olive oil ice cream this Summer;-)
I don’t know which sounds better – lemon olive oil and fleur de sel or the balsamic/strawberry combination. Good thing you had enough to do both!
I finally made this last week. I enjoyed it a lot, but your revisions sound even more interesting.
Trevor, Am wondering how you liked the strawberries with balsamic combo. I was going to try this also but ran out of ice cream before I got to this topping. That’s the good news, I guess. Everyone at my house liked it as well as you seemed to.
Elegant, a bit tart, a hint of salt: an ice cream or an evocation of the delightful chef who concocted it?
This looks fabulous and, not for the first time, makes me wish that I had an ice cream machine and the space in which to store it.
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