On a cold winter night last week, I attended a cooking class taught by Chef Royal Dahlstrom at the Kitchen Window, a cookware store in Minneapolis. Eighteen other members of my church (I promised to put them on my blog post) also signed up for this special class. That's me, second from the right in the front row.
We were divided into six teams and each team was given recipes to prepare a part of our dinner menu.
Class Menu:
Gazpacho Layered Salad with Roasted Pepper Vinaigrette Topped with a Broiled Mozzarella Crostini
Rosemary Pan Seared Chicken Breast with Charred Tomato Salsa over Sweet Pea and Prosciutto Risotto
Lemon Pistachio Pound Cake with Mascarpone Ice Cream and Blackberry Sauce
Here is the dessert team with Chef Dahlstrom. This was the team that I was on.
The dessert had three parts: the cake, the ice cream and the sauce. I quickly volunteered to work on the ice cream because I’m always looking for great ice cream recipes to use at our cabin in the summer. I'm sharing only the ice cream recipe—for the rest of them, you will have to take a class at the Kitchen Window. The ice cream was rich and creamy with a lot of vanilla flavor and the entire dessert was incredibly delicious.
The ice cream machine that the school let us use is click here. But, you don't have to use an expensive machine—any one you have will work just fine. We divided the custard into two batches because as the ice cream freezes, air is beaten into it and it expands. Most ice cream makers have the capacity to make only 1 1/2 quarts at a time.
Mascarpone Ice Cream
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
9 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
1 cup mascarpone cheese
Method:
1. In a saucepan oven medium heat, heat milk, heavy cream, and vanilla, stirring occasionally to make sure the mixture does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. When the cream mixture reaches a fast simmer, turn off the heat and let sit 10 minutes to infuse the flavor.
2. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
3. In a thin stream, whisk the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Pour the egg-cream mixture back into the saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Note: at 160°F., the mixture will give off a puff of steam. When the mixture reaches 180°F. it will be thickened and creamy, like eggnog. If you do not have a thermometer, test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the mixture. Run your finger down the back of the spoon. If the stripe remains clear, the mixture is ready; if the edges blur, the mixture is not quick thick enough. When it is ready, quickly remove it from the heat.
5. Whisk in the mascarpone.
6. Meanwhile in a bowl, put in 2 handfuls of ice cubes and add cold water to corer. Rest a smaller bowl in the ice water. Pour the cream mixture through a fine sieve or chinois (to remove the vanilla bean pieces) and into the smaller bowl.
7. Chill until cool, about 30 minutes, continue according to the directions of your ice cream maker to freeze.
Makes 5 cups of ice cream