How Does My Garden Grow? Why, Into Mint Ice Cream, Of Course!

In just a few short weeks, our garden has just taken off, and I've got to say I'm quite surprised I haven't killed anything! We have learned some lessons, though. Mainly, never fill a bird seed feeder with bird seed right before a wind storm, hanging right over your strawberry plants..
If you do choose to this, then plan on "shooing" away tweety birds, doves, and disgusting pigeons that massacre your beautiful red strawberries!


Another lesson I learned, squishy green caterpillars like my mint. I, however, do not like them. My mint plant was exploding, and I had been collecting mint recipes. Finally, one we just had to try: Fresh Mint Homemade Ice Cream. YUMMMY! Wyatt and I started trimming the mint leaves, and I knew something was eating at it, since I was spotting holes. I went into the kitchen to wash the mint and there he was: a big ol' nasty green inch worm thing and several little siblings. I am not an Oompa Looma, and therefore do not eat caterpillars, and was more than happy to flush the critters down the toilet! Once pest control was concluded, Wyatt and I could continue on to the mission that was" The Making of Some Freakin' Delicious Mint Ice Cream.

Here's the recipe from David Lebovitz's Fresh Mint Ice Cream recipe from The Perfect Scoop

Fresh Mint Ice Cream
- makes about 1 quart (1 liter) -

Ingredients
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk

3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream

Pinch of salt

2 cups (80 g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves

5 large egg yolks

Procedure
1. Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan (the milk will be a lovely shade of emerald). Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

3. Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

5. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.



Read more: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/06/cook_the_book_fresh_mint_ice_c.html#ixzz0nyPyUgNC

I think the ice cream turned out great. The texture was the best I had ever made, super creamy. The mint flavor is not a fake mint extract kind of flavor. It is a very fresh mint leaf flavor, but I think it is stinkin' good! So did Wyatt. And I guess Byron did, he ate it. ;)