Margherita Pizza

We’ve riffed on tomatoes several times in the heat of the summer. In all of our ideation, we’ve always kicked around the idea of pizza but it wasn’t until now that we finally decided to take the leap.  Although I must admit, I did simplify the idea this round – and chose to leave out the pepperoni (even though I was soo tempted to put it in).  Instead I went the classic margherita route, inspired by the simple pizza topped with garden fresh tomatoes, basil and good old mozzarella cheese.

 

 

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The process begins with the tomatoes.  I chose to make a tomato jam for the tomato component of the flavor because the cherry tomatoes are typically sweeter and remind me a bit of a regular berry.  The jam was made like we would make any other fruit jam, a little lemon juice, and sugar and that’s it!  The cherries soak in lemon juice to coax out the liquid and then are cooked with sugar until the water is displaced.  It’s a sweet jam that explodes with tomato flavor.

 

 

cherry tomatocherry tomato jam

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the jam complete, the next step is the mozzarella ice cream base.  Similar to how we’ve used cheese in previous flavors, the mozz is shredded very fine, and then slowly whisked into the ice cream base as it’s being cooked.

 

 

mozzarella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last step is the basil.  Fresh basil is minced very fine and added in fresh at the end of the churn to provide that bright herb-y accent that cuts right through the cheese and tomato.

 

 

Basilbasil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say, the end result was even more delightful than I expected.  I knew it would be good, but the flavors came together so fantastically well. As it turns out cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella are just as successful of a trio in ice cream as they are on pizza.

 

margherita

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scoop is a tangy, mozzarella and basil flecked ice cream swirled with sweet cherry tomato jam.
Margherita Pizza Ice Cream Recipe

Cherry Tomato jam ingredients:
1 pint fresh cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (about 1/2 pound)
1 to 1-1/2 Cups  sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Ice Cream ingredients:
1 Cup of Milk (The higher the fat percentage, the creamier the ice cream)
2 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 Cup of sugar
1 Cup of pre-made Cherry Tomato Jam
1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon of salt

 

Instructions for the Jam: Place a plate in the freezer (this will come in handy in a bit). In a medium saucepan combine the sliced cherry tomatoes and lemon juice. Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mash briefly with a potato masher to press out more of the juice, but don’t pulverize. Stir in sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Cook and stir the mix until the bubbles subside and the jam appears slightly thickened, somewhere around 15 minutes. To test for doneness, spoon a small amount onto the chilled plate. If jam is gooey and wrinkles when you push your finger into it, it is done.  This means it will not be icy in the cream (which you do not want).  If not, add a bit more sugar and cook and stir a little longer before testing again.   Cover and chill completely until you are ready to make the ice cream.

Instructions for ice cream: Crack eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk fully.  Add sugar whisk until fully combined.  Add heavy cream, mozzarella cheese, and salt.  Whisk again until all ingredients are fully blended.

Over medium heat, whisk or stir base continuously. Keep stirring continuously until temperature reaches 165-170 degrees.  Remove from heat. Cool ice cream base to room temperature (an ice bath will do this in about 15-20 minutes).  Put base in a clean container, cover, and chill in refrigerator overnight.

5. Churn ice cream base in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Add basil in last 5 minutes of churning.    Place ice cream is in freezer proof storage container. swirling in the cherry tomato jam in layers as you do so.  Place container in freezer and freeze ice cream for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight if you can wait.

*Yields approximately 2.5 pints
If you’d rather not make it, you can be one of two lucky winners of this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. Two winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 8/21/15 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally in Minneapolis. Prizes must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

 

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Cherry Basil Yogurt Pretzel

I happened across these gorgeous dark Wisconsin cherries in the past week and snatched them up to pair with some of the fresh basil I have growing in the backyard. The very evening I bought the cherries I came home to my 2 year old son snacking on a handful of yogurt pretzels and knew right then and there that yogurt and pretzels would also have to be part of this combination. Serendipity and ice cream are a scheming pair.

 

Cherry Basil Yogurt Pretzel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cherries are the star of this show as they should be, and we begin with making them into a light jam.  We’ve got this fantastic new method that really preserves the integrity of the fruit while keeping it from getting icy.  It’s all about displacing the water content with sugar.  Ah, the sweet wonder drug that we are slaves to.  Sugar.  With a nod to Oscar Wilde, we preach moderation in everything, including moderation.

 

 

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Once the jam is made, the rest of this process is smooth sailing.  The ice cream is a simple yogurt/cream base made with our favorite full fat yogurt to give it a nice tang.

 

Greek Yogurt

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pretty garden fresh basil is minced and added in fresh at the end of the churn.

 

Basilbasil

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pretzels are broken into smaller pieces and also added in at the end of the churn.

 

Cherry Basil Yogurt PretzelCherry Basil Yogurt Pretzel

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end result is a rich yogurt basil ice cream swirled with fresh cherry jam and studded with pretzel chunks.

 

Cherry Basil Yogurt Pretzel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry Basil Yogurt Pretzel Ice Cream Recipe

Cherry jam ingredients:
1 pint fresh cherries (about 1/2 pound)
1 Cup  sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Ice Cream ingredients:
1 Cup of plain yogurt
2 Cups of Heavy Cream
3/4 Cup of sugar
1 Cup of pre-made Cherry Jam
1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
1/2 Cup pretzels (broken up)
1 teaspoon of salt

 

Instructions for the Jam: Place a plate in the freezer (this will come in handy in a bit). In a medium saucepan combine the cherries and lemon juice. Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Cook and stir the mix until the bubbles subside and the jam appears slightly thickened, somewhere around 15 minutes. To test for doneness, spoon a small amount onto the chilled plate. If jam is gooey and wrinkles when you push your finger into it, it is done.  This means it will not be icy in the cream (which you do not want).  If not, cook and stir a little longer before testing again.   Cover and chill completely until you are ready to make the ice cream.

Instructions for ice cream: Crack eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk fully.  Add sugar whisk until fully combined.  Add heavy cream, yogurt, and salt.  Whisk again until all ingredients are fully blended.

Over medium heat, whisk or stir base continuously. Keep stirring continuously until temperature reaches 165-170 degrees.  Remove from heat. Cool ice cream base to room temperature (an ice bath will do this in about 15-20 minutes).  Put base in a clean container, cover, and chill in refrigerator overnight.

5. Churn ice cream base in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Add basil and pretzels in last 5 minutes of churning.    Place ice cream is in freezer proof storage container. swirling in the cherry jam in layers as you do so.  Place container in freezer and freeze ice cream for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight if you can wait.

*Yields approximately 2.5 pints
If you’d rather not make it, you can be one of two lucky winners of this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. Two winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 8/7/15 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally in Minneapolis. Prizes must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

 

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Basil with Meyer Lemon Curd

In all of the chaos of kicking off our IndieGoGo fundraiser this week,  we arrive at our favorite day.  Or as it has become over the last year – flavor day.

And as luck would have it, the flavor I chose for the week of the kickoff proved to be a bit of a challenge.

 

 

 

We had been wanting to use Meyer lemons in a flavor since they are in season and a facebook flavor-storming session with our good friend Molly McNeil (of Minnesota Peach fame) pushed it into the spotlig

 

 

I envisioned this flavor to be a green hued, deeply flavored sweet basil ice cream with ribbons of meyer lemon curd glowing through each scoop. Unfortunately I realized after my first incarnation that we weren’t quite ready to cross into pesto cream sauce with lemon ice territory, which was exactly where we ended up after the first round.

 

Sometimes these flavors take on a personality during development, almost like they are a living, breathing thing.  I’ve  caught myself almost talking to a flavor idea, demanding that it cooperate or tell me what would make it happy.  After some smooth talking, I finally found the right path, which included a few adjustments to find harmony.

 

 

 

First, the lemon curd.

 

 

 

Lemon curd is a great cake filling or baking ingredient, but thrown into ice cream in its basic form results in a hard, icy texture that doesn’t translate well.  So to fix, the curd was baked in the oven to caramelize the sugars and reduce out the water content.  The result is exactly the filling you get with a lemon bar, translucent with the melding of the sugar, butter, and eggs.  It incorporates into the ice cream beautifully.

For the ice cream, I initially steeped the cream in basil and threw in minced basil to finish. The result was an overwhelming sour basil flavor, which if actually treated like pesto might be good, but without the balance of a walnut or pine nut was too much on its own.  I’m not going to say Pesto is not workable because in all honesty its danced around our flavor list for awhile.  But for now, it would wait.

The right decision was keeping the basil out of the ice cream until right at the end, where it was minced and added to provide an accent flavor to the Meyer Lemon (which is truly the star of the show) and leave the clean cream flavor some room to breathe.

 

 

 

The final product.

 

 

 

Want to try some for yourself?

As we do every week, we’ll be giving away two pints of this flavor. Just leave a comment on our facebook page to be entered into the drawing. If you don’t have a facebook account, leave a comment right here on the blog. We’ll draw two winners on Friday afternoon (3/9/2012) at 4pm and will announce them on our facebook page (or email you if you’re comment resides here). Our only conditions are you must be able to pick it up here in Minneapolis, and be willing to give us a little feedback that can be shared with everyone else. Good luck!

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