Spring French Tarragon and Olive Oil Ice Cream

With thanks to our Slow Food Edmonton Roots Shoots and Garden Boots Volunteers!

After posting our Olive Oil Tasting, Lillian from Beyond Umami, tweeted me and suggested I made Olive Oil ice cream with my over abundance of this liquid gold. I have been known to go a long way out of my route for a good ice cream and have made just about every flavour imaginable. Recalling my daughter’s special trip to an ice cream shop in San Francisco to sample the Olive Oil ice cream specialty, my wheels got turning. I still have gorgeous olive oil from my trip to Italy last fall and the motivating factor was the delectable and fragrant licorice-like tarragon after the rain. One day there were a few delicate leaves unfolding under the early morning sun, and the next, a knee-high bush!

For the love of tarragon! I adore it, but have so few occasions to celebrate the flavour of this all-too-often beef twinned herb. Of course, Vanja doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like anything green (except basil). Scissors in hand, I ducked out on the deck to clip my tarragon bush back to its recent beginnings. The Spring Garden sends me into a mystical trance every year. I adore it. Poetry is in the air. Sitting and thinking and looking and feeling completely at peace and full is everywhere in my backyard.

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy B. Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

or, as one of my favourite Canadian author’s once wrote: In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt! (Margaret Atwood) and I always have it under my nails!

The rain enhanced the fresh fragrance of the newly clipped herb and the tapered ribbon leaves flail on the plate, yielding their sophistication to the quiet celebration on this morning: the first garden harvest. Spring has barely waved “Hello”, yet the tarragon has surrendered and the rhubarb and chives are waving at me in unison: pick me!

The custard for the ice cream was already curing in the fridge. The occasion? A heartfelt thanks to the amazing Slow Food Edmonton volunteers who set up the Prairie Bistro for the Roots Shoots and Garden Boots gala at the beginning of the month. All were invited for a Taste Tripping Grilled Pizza making class as a small token of our appreciation for their stellar contribution to our event and this “taste” would be served for dessert alongside my famous raspberry ice cream (famous in my house!).

Below, thanks to Larry, John, Su, Katie, Linda, Joveena, Anita, Susan and Maria. What a team!

French Tarragon is so much more flavourful than any other I have had, when tasted side by side, I would grow no other kind. Above is a loosely packed cup. In the bowl below, it the other one. Putting the tarragon into the sieve and then into the boiling water to blanche means that after a 5 to 10 second dunk, it is easy to lift out, strain and dip into the ice water immediately. Ensure it is cold before straining. Then squeeze gently with fingers, place on a clean dish cloth or teatowel and fold fabric over the leaves to absorb the moisture.

Into a blender or Thermomix it goes with a cup of the custard until puréed, then add remaining liquid and blend until as smooth as possible. You will still need to strain through a tamis for best texture. There were very few tarragon particles remaining in the sieve, but enough to interfere with a smooth mouth feel. Into the rotating bowl of the ice cream maker, and when thick, into the freezer: a very straight forward process.

Drizzled with a fruity olive oil, garnished with a sprig of tarragon and topped with a crunchy fleur de sel: YUM! Not your mother’s ice cream, mind you. Only myself and Anita liked it. I didn’t just like it. I loved it.

The sweet cold cream coupled with the unctuous richness of the fruity oil lifted by the herby licorice scent and topped with chunky salt crystals provided a complex and surprisingly pleasing, almost addictive, completely novel taste experience for me. Would i make it again? Absolutely! Once a year, at least, at the onset of Spring in my garden.

Would I make it again for a Thank You part? Oh, not likely. But, there would most certainly be something else I would be experimenting with. At least the pizzas were a hit and everyone left with a big smile and I hope feeling the appreciation they deserved. I know I had a great time: meeting each volunteer was such a delight and so necessary after this event. Knowing our volunteers is so important as without them, very few organizations would survive.  Su has definitely taught me so much about working with volunteers. She is the quintessential Edmonton volunteer and I cannot express my appreciation and deep admiration of her giving spirit. All I can do is work to return a little of what she gives… thank you for leading this amazing team!

 

French Tarragon and Olive Oil Ice Cream

Makes  2 quarts

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 12 large egg yolks
• 490g or 2 2/3 cups whole milk
• 225g or 1 cup sugar
• 1/2t pinch salt
• 2 generous cups tarragon, gently packed
• 1 cup fruity, extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions for the custard:

1. Prepare the egg yolks is a bowl and set aside
2. Pour the cold, heavy cream into a bigger bowl and place back into the fridge until needed
3. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar and salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the milk is steaming and small bubbles form on the bottom of the pan, (just a few minutes)
4. When the milk is hot, dribble it into the yolks to temper them, whisking constantly
5. Return the egg mixture to the hot milk mixture, and cook, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula until the mixture begins to forma film on the bottom of the pan and you can draw a line that stays on the spatula with your finger (another few minutes)
6. Immediately remove the pot from the heat and pour the hot custard into the bowl with the cold, heavy cream
7. Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the cream to avoid developing a skin on the surface
8. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days.

Instructions for the custard with the THERMOMIX:

1. Prepare the egg yolks is a bowl and set aside
2. Pour the cold, heavy cream into a bigger bowl and place back into the fridge until needed
3. Scale the milk, sugar and salt in the TM bowl; set time for 12 minutes and heat to 80 C at speed 2-3
4. Once the temperature reaches 60 C, start adding egg yolks through the lid of the TM bowl, one at a time until all missed in
5. Pour the hot custard into the bowl with the cold, heavy cream
6. Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the cream to avoid developing a skin on the surface
7. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days.

Instructions for Preparing the Tarragon:

1. Remove the tarragon leaves from the stems
2. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil
3. Prepare a medium bowl filled with ice water
4. Place tarragon inside the strainer and use that device to blanche the tarragon in the boiling water (much easier to remove the leaves from the water using this)
5. Blanche the tarragon until bright green: ONLY 5-10 seconds
6. Drain through a strainer, and plunge into the ice water (still in the strainer).
7. When it’s cold, drain it and squeeze all the water out (see photo)
8. Place the blanched, squeezed tarragon in a blender (or the Thermomix)
9. Add about a cup of the cold ice cream base and blend on low until smooth, slowly adding the remaining ice cream base
10. With the motor still running, slowly pour in the olive oil (through the lid of the TM bowl, if using the thermomix)
11. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve even if using a Thermomix

Instructions for making the Ice Cream

1. Chill the ice cream storage container in the freezer
2. Spin the ice cream in an ice cream maker until it is the consistency of a thick milkshake.
3. Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze for at least 2 hours
4. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil , and a pinch of hand mined sea salt: Fleur de Sel is best, but Maldon. Is good, too
5. Garnish with fresh French Tarragon leaves
6. The ice cream is best within a week of being made, but will keep for several months.