This week has been full of excitement of the rehearsal and biking variety, so I meant to write about more ice cream things earlier.
The next two things I brought out for the ice cream party were pumpkin ice cream pie, and lychee sorbet. First the pie.
I have been making this ice cream pie for at least the past three years, probably longer.The pie is a pumpkin ice cream (mostly based on the Ben and Jerry's ice cream recipe) layered and topped with fresh marshmallow sauce in a graham cracker crust. Sometimes I make the crust, but normally I buy the crust from the grocery store. It's quick and easy. The best thing is that the ice cream and marshmallow sauce make enough for two pies. There is a second one still sitting in the freezer.
Also, I love having an upright freezer in the basement. It holds my bread stash and all of the ice cream making endeavors.
The lychee sorbet I made for my husband, who loves lychee almost as much as he loves pumpkin.
Doesn't look like much, does it? My recipe is based on the recipe from Not Eating Out in NY, mostly for the proportions. I have not really had lychees before, so this was an exercise in making sure there was enough sugar. It was great having some of that guess work taken out of the picture
Lychee Sorbet Infused with Lemon Grass and Ginger
2 cans lychees in syrup
1 teaspoon lemongrass (mine's from Penzeys)
1 wide knob of ginger, peeled and chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
I took the syrup, lemongrass and ginger and heated it to a low boil and then let steep for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, I reserved about 1/3 cup of lychees and pureed the rest. Strain the syrup, and then heat the syrup with the pureed lychee for about 10 minutes (I probably went shorter). Do not let it get to a rolling boil.
Chop reserved lychee and chill.
I chilled all of the ingredients overnight. The next day I churned the lychee puree mixture and in the last 5-10 minutes of the churning added the lychee pieces.
The larger lychee pieces were not large enough to give that sensation of biting into something icy that you can get with strawberry ice creams, but still gave it a bit more texture. Some people were thrown off that it wasn't completely smooth, but most enjoyed the light flavor with the hints of grassiness and ginger.
When I make this next time, I might chop a small amount of candied ginger or create a separate syrup of ginger to add to it. Almost all of the flavor was from the lychee and lemongrass.
Victor wanted ice cream too, poor guy.
