For no reason at all, this week, for me, has been all about soul searching. Or brain burrowing. Spirit spelunking?
Something like that. Definitely an alliteration.
There are a lot of things to think about in the world, and it seems like we’re supposed to have well formed opinions on all of them. Politics, religion, shampoo brands. All the important stuff.
I spent part of my week watching videos and reading articles on farm bills and food stamps and welfare and racial profiling and prisons.
That’s some pretty heavy stuff. And the truth is, I see both sides of issues 90% of the time. Even on things where I know I disagree with a person’s opinion, I can usually see where they’re coming from.
Totally doesn’t mean I won’t argue with them. Maybe I’m neither a lover nor a fighter.
But in reality, my life has a very limited perspective. I haven’t experienced firsthand the struggles or triumphs that other people have faced, and those people haven’t experienced mine.
One thing I am not on the fence about is ice cream. In ice cream, there is no wrong answer. Everyone wins with ice cream. Even not-so-great ice cream is still like. Yeah. Pretty good.
(It occurs to me that health nuts might think that ice cream is the wrong answer, but my rebuttal is that this definitely has fruit. And dairy is also good for you. And lay off, already, okay?)
This is the first ice cream recipe I’ve outright invented, because the plums in our fridge just looked amazing and round and plump, and I’ve never had plum ice cream. So why not? What could go wrong?
Nothing. The answer is nothing is wrong with this.
Ugh, and cardamom. Get in my life. If I wasn’t concerned about things getting lodged in my brain, I might walk around with a cardamom pod stuck in each nostril.
Depending on the sweetness of your plums, this ice cream has a bit of tartness to it. I’m okay with it. It cuts the sugar a bit and adds interest, in my opinion.
If only world peace were as simple as sharing an ice cream cone, right?
ROASTED PLUM CARDAMOM ICE CREAM
- 1½ cups (350 grams) heavy cream
- 10 lightly crushed green cardamom pods
- 1½ pounds (about 6-7) ripe plums
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a medium saucepan, combine heavy cream and crushed cardamom pods and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F. Halve and pit plums. Place cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for about 20 minutes, until plums are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork.
- Transfer hot plums to a blender or food processor. Add brown sugar and ground cardamom, and blend/process until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, pushing liquid through with a rubber spatula.
- When the cream is finished steeping, strain out the cardamom pods and add the cream to the plum purée. Stir until uniform in color, cover the bowl, and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Remove bowl from the refrigerator and add granulated sugar and vanilla extract. Stir thoroughly.
- Pour mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In my ice cream maker, this took about 25 minutes. Transfer to lidded containers and freeze until firm.
