Ice Cream Week--Mint Chocolate Chip

  Oh my goodness, my doctor and scale may disagree, but I think one week a month should be ice cream week!!  This has been so fun so far and SOOOO delicious!!  Think of all the fall flavors and then into winter...yum!!

   Today we decided to go with mint chocolate chip.  It's probably my favorite flavor of ice cream and apparently Oren's too, because he's the one who asked for it and then suggested it each day.  Today's recipe is from none other than Mr. Isaac Mizrahi, and can I just go on a little bit of a tangent and say I love him.  Oh, it's my blog, then yes, I will.  I absolutely love it when he comes on Martha Stewart's show.  He's so funny and kind and he sells his clothing at Target which makes him accessible to me as $50 for a pair of jeans is EXPENSIVE to this cheap frugal girl!  He always makes me smile, so when I searched for MCC recipes and his happened to show up on Epicurious.com, I was sold.  Plus it had GREAT reviews and it used actual mint instead of just extract.  

   This was our first recipe of the week that involved eggs to make a custard.  Custard-based ice creams aren't hard, they're just harder than scalding some milk and calling it done.  Yesterday's chocolate recipe was basically the same, it just used cornstarch instead of egg yolks to thicken.  You do have to constantly stir so you don't scramble your eggs, but it's not hard by any stretch of the imagination.  The only other thing about this recipe is that it needs to chill in the fridge for 6 hours to overnight before you put it in the machine.  So it's going to take a little longer than some of our other recipes too...no worries.  We put it on this morning and are enjoying it tonight.

   Here's the recipe, courtesy of epicurious.com

Isaac Mizrahi's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Makes 1 1/2 Quarts

6     large   egg yolks

• 3/4  cup     sugar
• 2     cups    whole milk  (again, I used mostly 2% and some half and half)
• 2     cups    fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
• 1     cup      heavy cream
• 3     drops   green food coloring  (Normally I would leave this out, but Emma wanted it a little green, so we added 2 small drops...just green enough!)
• 4     ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  
• 4     ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  (And y'all know I just threw some chocolate chips in here instead of measuring anything out!)

In large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.

In heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stir together milk, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, then remove from heat.

Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from cooking, then slowly stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Place over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path), 5 to 6 minutes total (do not let boil or custard will curdle). Strain through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in heavy cream and food coloring. Cover and chill until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.** See note below**

Process custard in ice cream maker, adding chopped chocolate during last minute of churning. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.

**I actually chose to add my cream with the mint still in and left it steeping until I was ready to pour it in the mixer before straining out the mint.  After tasting, I probably should have taken it out a little sooner as it has a strong herb-y flavor to the mint as opposed to the smooth, sweet flavor we're used to.  It's not bad by any means, just different than usual.  I will admit that my mint came from my garden and some it was a little hardy (meaning had been there for awhile) so that could have contributed too.

No pictures tonight as it isn't set up yet, we enjoyed a bowlful of it very, very soft.  Instead, I have a sneak peek at Emma's birthday pictures.  My friend, Amanda took them last night and put up a few today to enjoy...I sure do love this girl a whole lot...

Oh my goodness...she's got the cutest chicken legs ever, right??

Possibly my favorite of the whole shoot...I can't stop looking at this picture!!!

Man, I really love that girl.  I can't believe she's mine sometimes!  Until tomorrow friends, have a good night and enjoy something yummy!!  We're making peach tomorrow.  I may be the only one who eats it...but that's just more for me!