During Memorial Day last May, Anne and I drove down to West LA to visit our friends, Justin and Brian. In college, Justin was my partner in various culinary schemes, and Brian was our willing guinea pig. Although they've moved down south, we manage to visit each other and cook together every few months. Upon our 2 a.m. arrival in their swanky new condo, we were welcomed with freshly made mango ice cream. Justin, you see, had recently purchased the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet and Ice Cream maker from Costco for a mere 40 dollars. We spent most of that weekend in lactose frenzy, shopping for and consuming cheese and homemade ice cream and gelato. When I returned home, I headed straight to Costco and purchased an ice-cream maker of my own. Oh, the freedom I have gained since! My first batches were simple, delicious and ubiquitous - chocolate, strawberry, coffee and meyer lemon sorbet. Driven by an "iron chef" competition, I started to get more adventurous, making corn ice cream, white and yellow nectarine honey ice creams, and of course, the previously mentioned mascarpone sorbet, which led Anne to wonder... "what other kinds of cheese ice cream can we make?"
Our friend, Carla had told us about cheese ice cream in the Phillipines, which is made with a kind of cheddar. but we started to brainstorm. My first instinct was for goat cheese ice cream, but Anne suggested blue cheese ice cream. After a bit of research, I discovered a recipe on egullet with fig compote as a topping. Here it is:
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs corn syrup
4 oz. blue cheese
blend together cheese and corn syrup util smooth (immersion blender is great for this) - set aside.
bring milk and cream to a boil. whisk together egg yolks and sugar and slowly whisk in some of the hot cream to temper. pour eggs into cream mixture and continue to cook over medium heat until thickened slightly and it coats the back of a spoon (like creme anglais). Off heat whisk cheese and syrup into hot custard until smooth, then strain through fine sieve into a bowl. chill until very cold and process in ice cream maker.
The fig compote:
roughly chop a couple handfulls of dried mission figs. put them in a sauce pan with ruby port and red wine to almost cover. add a couple Tbs of sugar (or less, depending on how much port you use), half a stick of cinnamon, half a star anise, a couple strips of orange zest with a clove stuck in one, and maybe 10 black pepper corns. simmer until the figs are soft, but not falling apart and the liquid reduces and gets syrupy.
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Let me tell you, this ice cream is not for the weak of heart or those that don't like blue cheese. I made it for a house bbq where there were plenty of adventurous cheese-lovers in attendance. Most were fascinated by it, or at least the idea of it. I found that it wasn't really sweet enough, so I corrected it by topping it with honey and balsamic vinegar. The recipe suggests using Stilton, which I felt would be too salty and strong, so I used Forme Sauternes instead. I also added a bit of honey to the base, but next time, I think I'll use honey (and double it) instead of corn syrup. The fig compote I could take or leave (maybe I didn't make it right). I liked the ice cream just fine with the honey, the balsamic and fresh figs. This would go really well with port, sauternes (of course!) or maybe even tokaji aszu.