Old-Fashioned Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Old-Fashioned Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways, scrape out the seeds
400ml whipping cream
200ml full-fat milk
4 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
pinch of sea salt
50g of good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped (keep in the fridge until needed)

How to make:

Pour the cream into a heavy based saucepan, add the split vanilla pod and seeds. Gently heat the milk to near boiling point, remove from heat. Cover and leave to infuse for 30 to 40 minutes.

Combine the egg yolks, sugar and sea salt in a bowl, whisk until the mixture is pale and thickened. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and gradually whisk the milk into the egg mixture.

Pour the mixture back into a clean saucepan. Over gentle heat and stirring constantly, cook the mixture (about 8 minutes) until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Do not let the mixture boil at any stage or it will curdle. Remove for the heat and cover with a lid. When cool, place the mixture into the fridge and leave until completely chilled.

Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine following the manufactures instructions… mine took about 30 minutes. Incorporate the chopped chocolate during the last five minutes of churning. Remove the freshly churned ice-cream to a freeze safe container, cover and freeze for a further 3 to 4 hours until firm.

Storage: This ice cream can be made a couple of days in advance. Place some cling film directly on the surface of the firmed ice cream and cover with a lid, this helps preserve its fresh taste. Home-made ice-cream will set very hard so I always place the container in the fridge for about 15 to 20 minutes to soften before serving.
Tip: Rather than discard vanilla pods after infusing, rinse and dry them. Store the vanilla pods in a jar with sugar and after about a week (shake the jar a few times during this time) you should have some lightly scented vanilla sugar.