I love color when it comes to food, which is funny because when it comes to my clothes I'm very much of a neutrals person. I love a black dress, grey jeans and black boots. And the color beige is my best friend; but when it comes to produce, more is more!
This beautiful pink corn was a complete surprise. I actually thought I was buying regular, ol' white corn; (The husks were on so there was really no way to know. And sure, it probably said "pink corn" on the sign, but I'm bad at reading those.) When I got home and began peeling back the husks, the beautiful corn unveiled itself and my mouth dropped a bit. Beautiful produce always tends to do that to me.
This ice cream tastes exactly like sweetened corn. It's smooth in texture–no funny ingredients! It's the perfect way to use up the end-of-summer corn that's coming out of our ears at this time of year.
The amount of corn you'll need for this recipe will depend on how sweet and flavorful the corn you get from the market is. Give a kernel a taste, if it's really milky and sweet, you should only need one corn on the cob for this recipe. If it's mild in flavor, add one cob for good measure.
This recipe was originally posted on PBS Food.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 to 2 corn on the cobs, husk removed, kernels cut off and cobs cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, pour in the whole milk, add the corn kernels, cob chunks and salt. Turn the flame to medium and heat the corn and milk mixture until hot to the touch, about 1 minute. Immediately turn off the heat and cover the pan. Allow the mixture to steep for 1 hour. At the 1-hour mark, remove the cobs and discard. Using a hand immersion blender, pulse the milk and corn kernels together until smooth. Alternatively, you could transfer the milk and corn kernel mixture to a blender and pulse until smooth. Place a sieve atop the saucepan and pour the mixture through, discarding the corn pulp (this is great to add to compost!).
- To a bowl, prepare an ice bath by adding 10 or so ice cubes and adding a few splashes of water. Set a slightly smaller bowl inside the bigger bowl and set a sieve or strain inside the smaller bowl. Set the whole ice bath contraption aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns a pale yellow and looks very smooth, about 1 minute. Next you're going to temper the egg yolks. Whisking the entire time, add about 1/4 cup of warm milk to the egg yolks. Add the remainder of the milk to the egg yolk mixture and whisk. Return the entire mixture back to the saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook the milk and yolk mixture, stirring constantly, until the thermometer reads 170 to 175 degrees F; the mixture should appear thick and coat the back of the spoon.
- Pour the custard through the sieve into the bowl. Stir in the heavy cream. Keep mixing until the mixture is room temperature. Wrap the bowl in plastic and transfer it to the fridge for 4-5 hours, or overnight, until very cold.
- Churn the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker, according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Serve immediately for soft serve or alternatively transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze overnight.
This recipe was originally posted on PBS Food.
