Pear Stracciatella Ice Cream Recipes

PEAR STRACCIATELLA ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Put 4 cups water, 4 cups sugar, and the lemon juice in a large saucepan. Scrape in the vanilla seeds, then add the bean. Bring mixture to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add pears to pan. Cover surface of liquid with a sheet of parchment paper. Cook pears until very tender, 15 to 25 minutes (time will vary depending on ripeness of pears). Remove from heat. Let pears cool completely in poaching liquid.
• Transfer pears to a cutting board. Discard all but 1/4 cup poaching liquid. Halve and core pears. Puree 3 pears in a food processor. Finely chop remaining 2 pears.
• Whisk yolks, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and the salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Heat milk and cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture is steaming and small bubbles form on edges. Add to yolk mixture; whisk until combined. Pour mixture back into pan; cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat spoon, about 5 minutes.
• Pour custard through a fine sieve into a large bowl set in an ice-water bath. Let cool, stirring occasionally.
• Stir pear puree, reserved poaching liquid, brandy (if desired), and extract into custard. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.
• When mixture is frozen but still being churned, add chopped pear. Pour in melted chocolate in a slow, steady stream; mix until combined. Serve with dark-chocolate syrup.

CHOCOLATE SYRUP

Steps:

• Heat cream and corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until mixture is combined. Add chocolate; stir until smooth. Remove from heat.
• Stir in brandy, if desired. Let sauce cool until thick but pourable. Just before serving, whisk until smooth.

ICE CREAM STRACIATELLE

Steps:

• Chill a large bowl. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water or a small bowl set over a saucepan of just-simmering water. Remove from the heat and let the chocolate cool, but don't let it harden. Transfer the softened ice cream to the chilled bowl. While folding it with a rubber spatula, drizzle the melted chocolate into it through the holes of a slotted spoon. Transfer the ice cream to a storage container and freeze until firm. Store for up to 2 weeks in the freezer.

CREAMY CARAMEL-PEAR ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Cook pears, 2 tablespoons white sugar, lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt, and vanilla extract in a saucepan over medium heat until pears are soft, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat; cool pear mixture for 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender. Puree pear mixture and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.
• Whisk egg yolks and 1 cup white sugar in a bowl. Heat 2 1/2 cups cream and milk in a large saucepan over medium-low heat just until bubbles appear at the edge; do not boil. Remove cream and milk from heat and whisk egg yolk mixture into cream and milk by small amounts until all egg yolk mixture is incorporated. Return to medium heat, whisking constantly, until custard is thickened, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Stir strained pear mixture into custard. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill in refrigerator overnight.
• Combine corn syrup, brown sugar, unsalted butter, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt in a heavy saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and stir until smooth; bring to a low boil. Stirring constantly, cook caramel until thickened and light golden brown, about 3 minutes; remove from heat, and let caramel cool for 5 minutes. Whisk 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cream into caramel. Transfer caramel to a bowl, cover, and chill overnight.
• Pour custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. When ice cream is softly frozen, lightly mix about 1 cup caramel into ice cream to make caramel swirls. Transfer ice cream to a bowl, cover, and freeze overnight.

ROAST PEAR & SHERRY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Peel, halve and core the pears, then put them in a gratin dish or roasting tin in which they can sit without too much surface area around them (otherwise the juices that come out of them will just burn off ). Sprinkle with the sugar and drizzle over 4 tbsp sherry and the melted butter. Bake for 30-40 mins; the pears should be completely tender and the juices around them slightly caramelised (check on them after 20 mins - if the pears are small it will take less time). Cut the pears up - still in the dish - and pour over the remaining sherry. Leave to cool completely, then purée (including all the juice) and push through a sieve. Cover and chill.
• To make the ice cream base, put the cream and milk in a heavy-based pan and add half the sugar. Slit the vanilla pod along its length and scrape the seeds out into the pan. Drop in the pod as well. Bring to just under the boil, stirring, then take the pan off the heat and leave to infuse. Remove the vanilla pod.
• Put the egg yolks in a bowl with the rest of the sugar and whisk with electric beaters until the mixture has increased in volume and falls in ribbons (this will take about 2 mins). Gradually stir about half the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar, then add this to the rest of the cream in the pan. Set the pan over a very low heat and cook, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, for 8-10 mins, or until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be really careful not to let the mixture overheat or it'll curdle.
• Pour the custard into a bowl set in a sink of iced water (this stops it cooking immediately) and leave to cool, stirring a little every so often. Chill for 3 hrs. Stir the pear purée and the 2 tbsp sherry into the custard, then churn in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon into a container, cover and store in the freezer. Alternatively, if you don't have an ice cream maker, put the custard and pear mixture into a freezer-proof bowl, cover and put it in the freezer. Beat the mixture every hour until it's frozen (about 4 hrs) to break down the crystals.