Toasted Sesame Seed Ice Cream

We were in the city the other night and after dinner we set out to find some gelato, as you do. It was cool and rainy and we jumped puddles and swerved umbrellas until we found the nearest Gelateria (not hard in Melbourne). We took a while to choose our flavours, then sat in silence, cones in hand, and ate creamy gelato (hazelnut for me) with our coats on. Newly inspired, I came home and made Toasted Sesame Seed Ice Cream. It's still raining and I'm tempted to put my coat on, take a scoop of ice cream and sit outside. Eating ice cream with my coat on in the rain might be my new hobby.



Toasted Sesame Seed Ice Cream
slightly adapted from Gourmet Traveller
makes about 1 litre

80g sesame seeds
250ml milk
3 teaspoons tahini
500ml pouring cream
6 egg yolks
120g caster sugar

Pour the sesame seeds into a large frying pan. Heat the frying pan over medium heat and toast the sesame seeds until they are light golden. Stir or shake the seeds often as they burn easily. Remove the from the heat. Reserve 1 teaspoon of seeds for serving and then pour the rest of the seeds into a small saucepan. Add the milk, 250ml of the cream and the tahini and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once the milk-cream mixture has chilled and the sesame seeds have released their flavour, strain them through a fine sieve and discard the seeds, reserving the milk-cream and put it into a saucepan with the remaining 250ml of cream and bring to the boil.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. With the mixer on low speed, add the hot cream mixture a little at a time. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until it coats the back of a wooden spoon thickly (5 - 10 minutes). Pour the mixture into a clean bowl and chill it in the refrigerator until completely cold.

Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions. Scoop it into a container and freeze until firm enough to scoop. Serve with a sprinkle of the reserved toasted sesame seeds.