Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ginger Ice Cream with Raisin Sauce

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most people associate ginger with Asian food. Maybe because it's widely used in Chinese and Indian food? I know it makes frequent appearances in other Asian cuisines, but I wonder if it's as ubiquitous as people think. I wouldn't say it's widely used in the kind of Thai food I grew up eating. When it showed up on the table, it was most often served raw, as an edible garnish or something along those lines. Raw ginger isn't for everyone, but I love love love it. As much as I like the distinctive flavor, it's the spiciness that does it for me. Cooking ginger seems to quell the heat. I'm always a little disappointed when I taste something that is gingery, but lacks the spiciness.



A couple of weeks ago, I tasted a really delicious ginger ice cream at our neighborhood Japanese restaurant. It had the right amount of sweetness and spiciness. To my surprise, Sonny loved it and he asked if we could make it at home. Hey, no problem! I like making ice cream and eating it too!

I've made enough ice cream to where I don't usually need to go looking for a recipe, but after I made this, I figured I should check to see if a similar recipe was posted. I'm lazy and don't like to type up the method. As it turns out, the exact recipe is already posted. Lucky me! Click to go to Emeril's ginger ice cream recipe. If you like ginger and you like ice cream then do check it out. It's got a great texture and the sweetness and spiciness are well balanced. A couple things to note: 1) add the ginger after the cream is heated and let it steep for 15 or 20 minutes to retain the spiciness and 2) this ice cream freezes hard. I wonder if that has to do with the ginger juice? You'll want to let it sit out for about 10 minutes before trying to scoop it.

To go with the ice cream, I toasted some sliced almonds and made a raisin sauce. To make the sauce, simply soak about 1 cup raisins in about 2 cups hot sparkling pear until they plump up (white grape or apple juice would work just fine; I just happened to have the cider). They take a while to plump up. Puree the entire lot and push it through a fine mesh sieve. Lastly reduce the sauce to the desired consistency. Pretty easy.

I'm submitting this post to Weekend Wokking, hosted this time by MomGateway. We're celebrating ginger, so if you have a ginger recipe you're just dying to share, check out the rules then send your submission to momgateway(at)gmail(dot)com! The deadline is this 11:59PM Sunday, August 30th.


My very own taste tester.

9 comments:

j'O said...

first of all: compliments from Italy. I always wanted to approach asian food and you really make it look very simple. Second: ginger is very very popular in the Netherlands. I have a friend who lives in Amsterdam and when I visited her she took me around places and told me that they eat a lot of it, mainly as a dessert ingredient I guess.
Keep up with the great job you're doing,
ciao!

dp said...

j'O, thanks for visiting and the kind words. You're right, ginger is very common in Western desserts, just not so much in the savory foods. I would imagine in the Netherlands they are fond of ginger with the Indonesian influence.

Zupan's Markets said...

You can’t get a much better summer treat than ice cream and it’s such a fabulously versatile snack to make. From old fashioned chocolate with a batter cone to sophisticated floral flavorings, we just can’t get enough—and we’re definitely breaking out the ice cream machine this weekend to try this exotic ginger creamy concoction.

Mary Bergfeld said...

This sounds delicious and proof positive is you son eating with gusto :-).

Uffe said...

Mmmm.... another ice cream recipe... Gotta try this one :)

Unknown said...

I love crystalized ginger - I assume that isn't cooked. Sweet and hot and lovely!

dp said...

Zupan, I think the heat this summer has really got me into the ice cream making mode. I'm ashamed to say I've been eating it just about every day.

Uffe, I never thought I'd be good at making ice cream, but it's become a sort of hobby. It's fun experimenting with different flavors. So expect more ice cream posts in the future.

amhogarth, I like crystallized ginger as well. I would probably add it during the last 5 minutes of churning or just use it as a topping.

Jason said...

Yum, yum, yum!!! I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but anything with ginger gets my taste buds very excited! I'm going to have my friend make this as I don't have an ice cream machine :)

SinoSoul said...

interesting... I'd dial down the eggs from Emeril's recipe, dial up the ginger, down dial the sugar... Might have to churn this during the weekend (since it's still hot in LA right now)