Fresh Mint, Lemon & Yoghurt Ice Cream

bluemoon downunder's Note:

NOT a recipe for the faint-hearted! Unless you have an ice cream machine, there is some whisking to be done throughout the freezing period, but that just means making it on a day when you're going to be home, and keeping your eye on the time! You don't have to sit with it constantly! I've not made this yet, but it really sounds well worth the forward-planning! I found this recipe in the October 2005 issue of the Australian magazine 'Delicious'. It's Belinda Jeffrey's recipe, her first recipe in this magazine in a section called "fresh start". She says at the beginning of the recipe "Begin this recipe the day before"! Well, yes, you'd need to! This ice cream sounds so delicious - I just love the inclusion of Greek-style yoghurt, absolutely my favourite yoghurt! I'm posting it here for the 2005 Zaar World Tour, as a Greek and as an Australian recipe. Preparation times are rather difficult to calculate: it really does depend on how many times you decide to repeat step 8! I've based my calculation on the minimum preparation time required. I think pistachio nuts would taste great in this recipe, perhaps 1/4 cup, added at the final whisking stage.

• Total Time: 7 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 7 hrs
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 cups caster sugar
• 1 1/4 cups tightly packed mint leaves, plus extra mint leaves to garnish
• 1/2 cup lemon juice, strained
• 2 cups Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup thickened cream, lightly whipped till it forms soft peaks

Directions:

1. Place the sugar and 2 cups (500ml) of cold water in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Stop stirring, then increase the heat to medium-high and bring the syrup to the boil.
2. Return the heat to medium and simmer for 12 minutes, occasionally using a brush dipped in cold water to brush down the sides of the pan and to remove any sugar crystals (they are otherwise likely to make the syrup cloudy).
3. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then pour the mixture into a container and chill.
4. Place the chilled syrup in a blender with mint and lemon juice. Blend at a high speed until the mint is very finely chopped.
5. Place the yoghurt in a large bowl and whisk well until it is smooth, then fold in the whipped cream. Add the syrup and whisk to combine.
6. If you have an ice cream maker, churn the mixture in it. Otherwise, pour it into a large, stainless-steel bowl and freeze for about 3 hours or until frozen 5cm (2 inches) from the edge.
7. Remove the bowl from the freezer and use a whisk or hand-held beaters to give the ice cream a really good whisk, breaking up ice crystals and smoothing it out.
8. Repeat these freezing and whisking steps once more. (For an even smoother texture, repeat these steps a few more times).
9. Pack the ice cream into a container, cover it tightly and freeze it at least overnight or until it is firm.
10. Serve the ice cream with extra mint.

Reviews

[PhillyDesigner]

This was a bit tricky to make, but well worth it. Definitely different! Next time I think I am going to infuse some mint in the sugar syrup and put a few less leaves in the actual final product because there were a few too many green specks, and they scared a few people away from trying it. A suggestion about how to freeze it. I put it in my stand mixers stainless steel bowl, then when it was partially frozen, I just took the bowl out of the freezer, popped it on the machine ran the wisk or beater through it a few times (once it got really thick the wisk didn't do as well, so I switched up to the beater, make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl) and put it back in the freezer. I'm lazy and only did it like 3 or 4 times, but I think the texture came out just fine. For a serving suggestion: I had made raspberry sauce for something else, and it went lovely with the yogurt.

[Chef Kate]

I thought this would taste good--I wasn't sure how it would look. It tastes wonderful, it looks just fine--a pale green sherbet/frozen yogurt with darker green flecks of mint. I did process the mint/syrup/lemon juice mixture much longer--wanting to make it as smooth as possible and I did use an ice cream maker. I did not add nuts and I strongly recommend against doing so. This is quite lovely and full flavored and I believe the addition of nuts would only detract from the enjoyment.