Sundae, bloody sundae...or.dreamscicle memories...

In summer, the song sings itself. ~ William Carlos Williams

To me, a pure vanilla ice cream is the super-model of ice creams. It can wear a variety of haute couture ensembles and still have its individual beauty shine through.

The recipe for my Vanilla Bean Ice Cream comes from a combination of Alton Brown’s recipe for Serious Vanilla Ice Cream and a recipe from Chef Michel Roux. I adjusted the proportions of the fats and sugars a smidge, but still produced a less sweet, but still very smooth and creamy vanilla ice cream.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

ingredients

3/4 cup Sugar ( I used Domino’s Demerara Washed Raw Cane Sugar that imparts a softer, almost caramel-y sweetness and a cream color the mixture a pale cream color)

1 cup heavy Cream

2 cups whole Milk

1 Vanilla Bean split and scraped

2 tsps pure Vanilla extract

directions

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp) in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see tiny bubbles begin to form at the edge of the pan, remove it from the heat.

Allow to cool at room temperature, then add the Vanilla extract.

Remove the hull of the vanilla bean, pour the mixture into lidded container.

Refrigerate mixture at least two hours, but overnight is better.

Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer according to your Ice Cream Makers instructions.

I use a Cuisinart ICE-20 and it took about 30 minutes to have the volume of the mixture to increase in size by about 1/3 or so and get to a soft-serve consistency.

Scoop the mixture from the ice cream maker into lidded freezable containers.

Freezer until solid, about 3 hours, but overnight is best.

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This morning I was shopping at my Farmer’s Market for fruit to use in my ice cream recipes, I happened upon a booth with a banner proudly proclaiming The Olive Tap. The owner and is helper were selling beautiful sparkling bottles of extra virgin Olive Oil, flavored Olive Oils and vinegars.

I sampled oils and vinegars from large stainless steel urns called Fustis before deciding on purchasing a Blood Orange infused oil. >

This one image ONLY is from the Olive Tap website....thank you.

I spoke at length with Mario, the owner of The Olive Tap in Downers Grove, IL and he explained the way that the Blood Orange Olive Oil that I choose was made.

Mediterranean Blood Oranges from Tunisia are crushed simultaneously with buttery flavored Chemlali Olives in the mill to fully fuse the flavors. It produces an oil with a rich but subtle tangy orange flavor and a delicate aroma. He said that the Blood Orange Fusion Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a more delicate citrus taste than the Lemon Fusion Oil.

I told him that I looking for oils that would compliment my homemade ice creams and sorbets and he agreed that I had made the right choice. He also said that the Blood Orange Fusion Extra Virgin Olive Oil , White Balsamic Vinegar with salt and pepper to taste makes a wonderfully light and flavorful dressing for summer greens, drizzled over fish or a marinade for chicken breasts or pork tenderloin.

This Blood Orange Fusion Extra Virgin Olive Oil and many other oils, vinegars and other products are available on-line, at The Olive Tap Stores and at booths at many of my local Farmers Markets listed below.

Downers Grove: Saturdays from 7am-12:30pm
Hinsdale: Mondays from 7am-1pm
Lemont: Tuesdays from 8am-1pm
Palos Heights: Wednesdays from 7am-1pm
Burr Ridge: Thursday from 7am-1pm
Olympia Fields: Fridays from 9am-1pm

To make my “Sunday, Bloody, Sundae” is quite simple. I put 3 small scoops in a chilled dish lined with Mandarin orange segments, drizzled about 2 ounces of Blood Orange Olive Oil over the ice cream.

The taste of this combination was rich and creamy. The buttery orange olive oil drizzles on the scoops added a richness to the ice cream, but did not overpower the subtle vanilla flavor.

This is a truly elegant adult desert would hold its own in any fine dining venue.

But, for me, it also had a wonderful playfulness about it as the combination of the orange and vanilla brought back childhood memories. Swirling mellow days of sticky-sweet summer afternoons long past, with good Humor bells ringing in the distance promising a cool piece of heaven on a stick in the guise of an orange-vanilla Dreamscicle.

Jingle, jingle…yum…

What are your favorite summer taste memories…?