Orange and Cardamom Ice Cream

I recently got access to a stunning Musso Ice Cream Machine Mini, and ever since then have been very excited about making something, anything. Flipping through Emily Luchetti's 'A Passion for Ice Cream' on the other hand made me feel like making everything. The photos are irresistible and the possibilities never ending. A huge variety of flavours (Buttermilk ice cream, Butter Pecan ice cream, Raspberry-rose water sorbet, Vin Santo Ice cream....) served in numerous ways (in a scoop, in milk-shake, in a mold, as a sandwich...).

After much deliberation, I finaly picked out an Orange Cardamom Ice Cream to try. I've always been interested in using spices in ice creams or trying out combinations of flavours, unheard of (at least to myself). The recipe seemed simple enough requiring the basic ingredients for ice cream, with the addition of orange zest and ground cardamom, which I substituted with whole cardamom pods. Also, because I only wanted to make a small batch, I halved the recipe and made a few adjustments according to my personal preference.

The result was an ice cream with an almost imperceptible cardamom flavour, which was fortunate since not many people take to spiced ice creams well. It had a faint tinge of orange, was light and not very chewy, with a sweet orange flavour. I would serve it with candied orange peel but did not make any. So unless you're sure you're a weirdo like me, who likes to consume zest straight ( in small amounts of course), then I'd suggest you serve yours neat. Now all I need to do is make a Hot Chocolate to go with it and you get a Cold Italian Hot Chocolate with Orange-Cardamom Ice Cream.

Orange-Cardamom Ice Cream

Adapted from A Passion for Ice Cream

Serves 3

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

3/8 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

3 cardamom pods

1 cup milk

1 cup whipping cream

zest stripped from 1/2 a large orange

Method

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt together.

Heat milk, cream, orange zest and cardamom over medium heat, stirring occasionally until almost simmering.

Pour milk and cream into egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking as you pour.

Return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula until custard reaches 65 degrees celcius and lightly coats the spatula.

Strain custard into clean bowl and cool until room temperature.

Refrigerate overnight and churn in an ice cream machine.

Freeze at least 4 hours and serve with candied orange peel.