The Odd Fork loves all vegetables. It believes it can pinch them and add them both to savory and sweet treats.
Since in the Odd Fork's country it's summer as well, a sweet beet ice cream paired with spicy ginger and dark chocolate, seemed perfect for the occasion!
For about a quart of ice cream, the odd fork used:
- 2 beetroots
- 1 cup of fresh milk
- 1 and 2/3 cups of milk cream
- 1 piece of fresh ginger peeled & grated
- 4 egg yolks
- half a cup and 2 tablespoons of white sugar
- some sweet, red wine (Greek Mavrodaphne is the best)
- a package of black chocolate flakes (100 grams)
At first, the odd fork washed the beetroots very well, wiped them, pinched them well and wrapped them in aluminum foil. It baked them for about an hour in high oven (200°C) till they were soft, let them cool a bit, peeled them, cut them in chunks and made a nice and smooth pulp in the blender.
In a saucepan it added the above beet pulp, milk, cream and ginger and brought everything to a boil. It removed the saucepan from heat, covered with the lid and let the mixture steep for half an hour.
Then it beat the egg yolks with the sugar, added slowly the milk – beet mixture and returned this new mixture to the stove over low heat whisking constantly in order to make the custard.
Odd Fork’s advice: It is better to make the custard over boiling water (bain-marie or hot water bath) to avoid it from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
When the beet custard was nice, thick and ready, the odd fork strained with patience the whole thing and when totally cooled, it put it in a plastic ice cream container and in the freezer.
Every once in a while the odd fork removed the ice cream and beat it in the blender (unfortunately not an ice cream maker available). The more the beating, the better!
The aromatic, rich, sweet red wine was added in the first beating and the chocolate pieces in the last one.
The following day the odd fork pinched finally the impressively colored ice cream, which had also an amazing taste!
