Summer this year has been a real struggle for me. I can’t remember another summer when the weather consistently felt so oppressively hot and humid. I’m regularly taking three cold showers a day, sleeping with a damp cloth on my forehead like a 19th century typhus victim and recently I’ve started just rubbing ice cubes all over my face and neck when I get home from work. I guess I should also mention that the living room AC is out of commission because it needs a new filter, something I definitely need to take care of but haven’t, and that I decided to go without AC in my bedroom so I wouldn’t “ruin the view” from my window. So some of my discomfort, I guess, is my own damn fault.
But despite my bitter feelings towards August, summer really does have the ability to lay a guilt trip on thick. So while longing out loud for mid- to late-September, I’m also regularly beating myself up for not taking advantage of summer. I haven’t sat on the terrace enough, had enough people over for dinner outside, made enough trips to the beach, cooked with enough herbs from the garden or made enough ice cream. There are only so many summer weekends, and the list of lost opportunities goes on and on. Some of these I have less control over (what’s with all the weekend thunderstorms when I could be laying on a beach?), while others, like making ice cream, are easier to address.
If you own an ice cream maker, it is extremely easy to make ice cream. So the level of difficulty is not an excuse. The real issue is time. If I want to make ice cream, I’m thinking seven to 10 days in advance. I’ll start thinking about the possibility of ice cream on, let’s say, a Sunday evening (usually as I’m trying to console myself about Monday with the possibility of dessert). I’ll ponder the idea for a couple of days, and by Tuesday night maybe I’ve stuck the ice cream bowl in the freezer (it needs at least 15 hours to freeze, by the way). In order to do this, I’ll need to take a bunch of stuff out of the freezer and find another home for it, so by now I’ll have created a weird stack of nuts and alternative flours somewhere in the apartment that’s both inconvenient and an eyesore. I’ll then start thinking about flavors, and maybe I’ll go to the grocery store on Thursday to get what I need. On Friday afternoon (Summer Fridays, hallelujah) I’ll finally get down to making the custard base, which is the fancy name for ice cream liquid. Into the fridge it will go for a good 24 hours until I find some time on Saturday afternoon to churn it in my frozen ice cream bowl. Once it churns, it’s not going to be the right consistency for immediate eating, so into the freezer it goes until approximately Sunday late afternoon, when I am again lamenting Monday, but this time at least I have some ice cream.
In the event that this has inspired you to make ice cream yourself (and I totally understand why it wouldn’t), let’s discuss flavors. During my recent trip to Italy, my family ordered a ricotta mousse for dessert one night and it was flavored with rosewater. Everyone passionately hated it except for me. I gleefully ate the whole thing. So, apparently, rosewater is not for everyone. Now, cardamom is one of my favorite spices (it’s warm and spicy, like a more interesting cinnamon) and turns out, it’s a perfect match for rose water, making it a little less cloying and perfume-y. And this ice cream is also not overly sweet, which I think is important for these flavors.
It’s mid-August, and if you haven’t made ice cream yet, what are you waiting for? Hey, if you get started now, you might have some on your hands by next Friday.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons whole green cardamom pods
- 600ml milk
- 600ml heavy (double) cream
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 160g caster or granulated sugar
- 3 crystals gum mastic, crushed with 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional- you can find this at Turkish and Greek stores or online)
- 400ml evaporated milk
- Dried rose petals (optional)
Instructions
- Lightly crush the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle and pick out as much of the green pod as you can, leaving the small black seeds. Pound the seeds to a fine powder (you can also do this in a spice grinder).
- Pour the milk and cream into a large saucepan and add the ground cardamom and the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced by about a quarter and has turned a rich creamy color similar to evaporated milk (around 20 minutes).
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan dissolve the sugar in the rosewater over a low heat and simmer until a thin syrup is formed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- When the milk and cream are ready, remove from the heat, strain out the cinnamon and discard. Stir in the crushed gum mastic, if using, and cool for 10-15 minutes. Add the evaporated milk and combine with the rosewater syrup. Churn in an ice cream machine and chill until solid. Serve with a few dried rose petals on top, if you'd like.
Notes
From Moro
