Sweet, and Hot, and Indian Spiced, Red Corn Ice Cream Perfect for Summer Cookouts.

   There is nothing that says the hot weather is here like the taste of homemade, fresh churned ice cream. One of the best investments in cooking equipment I ever made was buying an ice cream machine. I have worked that thing to death and it's still going strong. It gets so much use in the Summer months around here that I actually bought another bigger machine to keep it company. Homemade ice cream is fast and easy and one of the few desserts that almost no one can refuse. Don't eat dairy? It can be made with coconut milk, and when cooking for gluten-free friends, it's an allowed indulgence.
  
   I veered from my vegan diet a few months ago when I was doing chemo. I was anemic from treatment and advised to add more protein to my diet, and so I did, just a bit. Now that I'm done, I'm still taking iron pills everyday and getting back to regular vegan fair, but sometimes I'm just plain vegetarian and that's where the ice cream comes in. One of the best things about doing your own cooking is having control over what goes into ones food and one of the clearest examples of that is ice cream. Fresh organic milk, fresh organic cream, sugar, and pure vanilla. That's it. No gums or fillers, or fake flavors, just the real deal.
 
   So, when I set out to make some plain vanilla ice cream the other day I got distracted by something I'd only seen once before at my local Whole Foods market and that's organic red corn. Not wanting to repeat my loss of fresh garbanzos a few weeks ago, I didn't wait. I  jumped on that corn like a starving locust and then once I got it home I kept wondering how it would be in ice cream. I've made sweet corn ice cream before and I've even used red corn before in Red Corn and Radish Sprout Salad with Peanut Chili Dressing so I wondered how I could use my red corn and make a different sort of ice cream.Could I take an Indian spice rub used for grill roasted corn and add a  few things and come up with an ice cream? You bet I could, and I did just that. You can too.

Indian Spiced Roast Red Corn Ice Cream

Here's What You Need:
2 cups organic whole milk
2 cups organic heavy cream
3/4 cup of sugar
2 ears of fresh red corn, (or regular corn)
2 whole limes
salt to taste
2 pinches of cardamom
1 tsp of Kashmiri chili
2 tsp vanilla
1 generous pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of sugar

Here's What To Do:
Wash and shuck the whole ears of corn.

Cut the ears in half.

Roast them on a grill until they are soft and slightly charred.

Cut the limes in half. Put the Kashmiri chili in a small bowl. Dip the halved limes into the chili.

Rub the chili-coated limes on the ears of corn while squeezing to get the juice out.

Like so.

The corn should be coated in chili and lime juice.

Sprinkle a bit of salt on the ears of corn.

Cut the kernels off of the corn ears and place them in a bowl.

Add two pinches of cardamom...

...a generous pinch of cinnamon and a couple of pinches of sugar, and a touch more salt.

Stir everything together and check for taste. This is up to you as to how how or sweet or hot you want this. When it's seasoned to your satisfaction set it aside.
Add the milk, cream, and sugar to a large bowl.
Stir everything around until it's well mixed.
Add in 2 tsps of vanilla.

Pour everything into an ice cream machine.

Churn for about 30 minutes.
Scoop out the ice cream and put it into a freezer container and into the freezer for an hour or two to firm up.

Then serve it up.

Sweet, with a touch of heat and the wonderful flavors of cardamom and cinnamon.

   The red corn adds a faintly pink color to the ice cream, and the sweet hot chewy corn kernels are the perfect addition. This recipe of course will work with any color corn, but if you're lucky enough to run across red corn, grab some. You won't regret it. Coming up next, as I get back to a normal appetite again I'm looking at Indian vegetable salads the perfect side or even main dish for Summer entertaining. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

The Best Of Summer. Sweet Corn and Chipotle Chili Ice Cream with Walnut Chili Brittle. Thanks OXO!

    For the last several months I haven't been doing a whole lot of cooking. I've been operating out of a  borrowed kitchen while our new house is being remodeled. I've been cooking out of the boxes I've carried from our old house to our temporary rental and as a result of my careful planning, I can't find most of the stuff I brought with me. That's even if I did bring it with me because I realize some stuff may be in storage. My answer to cooking out of my many mystery boxes has led me to only make the simplest dishes. So, when an opportunity came along to try out some ice cream tools from OXO of course I said yes!  What's simpler than ice cream? Not much it turns out, provided one can find their ice cream machine. That was a little trickier in my case.
      
   After a rummage through a nest of boxes, in the temporary garage, I located the machine, but my metal ice cream storage containers were nowhere to be found. No problem as it turned out, since OXO sent along a terrific container that worked beautifully and took up very little space in the freezer. After that, my only challenge was to come up with a flavor of ice cream that made the best of a Sonoma summer.
   
   I wandered through the Farmers Market but nothing particularly caught my eye until I saw the Sweet Summer Corn. Having raised parrots, I was familiar with the charms of sweet corn and of Alex the Genius parrots' love for it.

   
 
   Sweet corn, soft corn, ice cream. It seemed like a natural connection. Yeah, right. In LA I remember the elotes vendors who'd push their carts around the neighborhood and would be parked outside of the school yards every afternoon, mobbed by kids enjoying the sweet corn on a stick loaded with contijo cheese, mayo and spices. Then there were the Tamal Dulce with sugar and raisins at Tamales Lilianas in East LA. This place is so good they have two locations!

Anyway, before I make myself any hungrier fantasizing about tamales that are 500+ miles away from me.... the logic went like this, if I can eat sweet corn tamales, why not sweet corn ice cream?

Sweet Corn and Chipotle Chili Ice Cream With Walnut Chipotle Brittle

 

Here's What You Need:
2 ears of sweet white corn
2 cups of cream
2 cups of milk
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/8 to 1/4 tsp of ground chipotle chili
2 cups walnut halves
1/4 cup of sugar
3 Tbs unsalted butter
chipotle chili to taste
a pinch of Kosher salt

Here's What To Do:
Shuck, wash and remove the kernels from two ears of corn.

Set them aside.
Pour 2 cups of cream into a large pot.

Add in 2 tsp of good quality vanilla. I use Gaya Mexican Vanilla but any good brand will do.

Add in 3/4 cup of sugar.

Bring the cream, sugar, and vanilla to a low simmer.
When the mixture starts to simmer, add in the kernels of corn.
Let the corn simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes until it's slightly tender.
Take the mixture off the fire and add in 2 cups of milk.

Add in the ground chipotle chili.

About The Chili:
Add it slowly and in small amounts. Let it sit for a bit to let the heat develop before you add more as you want to get the heat to a desirable level.This is a total matter of taste. 

Before putting the mixture into your ice cream machine let it chill in the fridge for several hours or even overnight as I did so the flavors can mellow. Before you put the ice cream in the machine check the flavor again for heat. If it's okay with your taste buds, you're good to go.

Pour the ice cream into your machine.

 When it's churned and read scoop it out...

...and into a freezer-safe container.

Since I usually use metal containers I was a bit suspicious as to whether or not the OXO freezer box would deliver a tight enough seal. I should have known better....

OXO, great as usual. Also, it fit perfectly into the freezer of the fridge I'm using.

Once the ice cream goes into the fridge to set up for a bit, make the Walnut Chipotle Brittle.
Patsy was an eager audience.

Add 3 Tbs of butter to a skillet.
As it melts add in add 1/4 cup of sugar.

Stir it all together.

Let it all melt together.
When the caramel has thickened add the nuts to the mixture...

...and 1/4 tsp of Kashmiri chili.

Stir it all together. If it starts to thicken up too much just put it back on the heat to soften it.
Pour it onto a heatproof plate or silicone mat,  (which is what I would have used had I been able to find mine. I substituted a paper plate.)

Sprinkle the whole with a bit of sea salt and  your are done. Let it harden a cool for a bit.
When you are ready to serve it up, chop your nut brittle.

I used the nifty chopper I got from OXO.

One little push, and bingo. It's done.

Scoop the Sweet Corn Ice Cream into a bowl and scatter some of the chopped Walnut Brittle on top.

   There it is, the best of summer's corn in a dessert bowl. Sweet Corn Ice Cream. Was it good? The cream was suffused with the taste of the corn, the crunch of the nut brittle in the mix was perfect and at the end there was a nice heat to the whole thing. It was like eating cracker jack ice cream. Enough said. Definitely a keeper.

   Thanks to OXO for giving me such perfect tools to work with. I always love their stuff and buy it for my kitchen, but right here, right now, working out of temporary quarters, I couldn't have done this without them. Plus, I always love anyone who gives me an excuse to make ice cream.
 Coming up next, a Summer drink with Indian  flavors. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori