Although it may sound a little sour, the combination of tangy lemon, vanilla, sugar, milk and cream is a wonderful taste experience. Serve the ice cream with a cake or pie, or on its own with a slightly crispy biscuit.
Photo and recipe by Morten Heiberg, from the book «Heibergs is».
How to make lemon ice cream
-
Flavour the milk
Pour the milk, cream and salt into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Split the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and add both pod and seeds to the pan. -
Prepare the lemons
Wash the lemons. Peel the yellow zest from one lemon with a vegetable peeler and add it to the pan. Finely grate the zest of the other two lemons into a bowl and add the juice of all three lemons. Set aside. -
Heat and temper
Heat the milk mixture to just below boiling point. Lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Pour a little of the hot milk mixture into the yolks while whisking constantly so they get used to the heat, then pour in the rest. -
Cook the custard
Pour everything back into the pan. Let the custard thicken over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, until it reaches 85 °C. It must NOT boil! Use a digital thermometer to check the temperature. -
Cool quickly
Immediately pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl. Place the bowl in an ice-cold water bath and cool quickly to approx. 4 °C, stirring regularly. Change the water if needed so it stays cold. -
Add the lemon
Add the lemon juice mixture a little at a time – taste and stop when the sweet and sour balance is right. Blend with a stick blender until completely smooth, pour into an airtight container and refrigerate until completely cold. -
Churn
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and start it. The ice cream takes approx. 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it towards the end and take it out as soon as it is ready – it hardens quickly. When finished, it has a firm, smooth texture like soft serve. -
Serve
Divide the lemon ice cream into portions, garnish with thin strips of lemon peel and serve immediately.