preserved meyer lemon ice cream

While I’m not really big on novelty ice cream, I do like to push the flavor canon a bit. Especially with seasonal fruit or simple flavors that are around the house. Preserved lemon isn’t something that a lot of people just have around, but if you really wanted to you could have it ten days from now.

So, preserved meyer lemon ice cream–I wasn’t really sure how this was going to turn out, with the main ingredient being so very salty. But it was really good, with a delicious sweet and sour thing going on. The salt dissipated into the cream, making for a very rich flavor. I really love how the simplicity of the plain cream comes through in homemade ice cream, and it contrasted nicely with the tang of the lemon. This unique ice cream was fun to eat, and though this flavor won’t likely make it into the ice cream cannon, it lends a definite brightness to the end of a winter meal.

Preserved Meyer Lemon Ice Cream with Honey

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons honey
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons preserved lemon, well rinsed and diced

Combine the milk, cream, honey, preserved lemon and sugar in a large saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat. In a medium bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks and set aside. When the cream mixture is starting to steam and bubbles are just forming on the sides, add 1/4 cup of the hot liquid to the egg yolks, and stir constantly. Add 2 or 3 more ladlefuls, until the egg yolks are warm, and won’t curdle when added to the cream mixture. Gently whisk the tempered eggs into the cream mixture. Cook over medium heat for five or so minutes until the custard begins to thicken and coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour into a large bowl, cover and chill for a long time–3 hours at least. I often try and make the ice cream sooner, but it almost never works. It’s really best to wait until your cream mixture is good and chilled. Then process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Please note that this makes slightly less than 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream, so you might want or need to process the ice cream in two batches. Remove from ice cream maker and freeze for as long as you can wait. With this batch in particular, things were a bit runny, but firmed up fine once I chilled the processed cream. Place the ice cream in the back of your freezer and wait patiently for at least four hours.