We were very excited to get some fresh wasabi a few weeks ago. But after using it in a variety of savoury dishes we still had a fair quantity left, and really didn’t want to let it go to waste. And so we made wasabi ice cream!
I won’t say it was the greatest success we have ever had on our long history of making our own ice cream, but it worked surprisingly well.
I’ve been great at following recipes, so I made the custard up as I went along. The basic ingredients were as follows:
4 egg yolks
Enough caster sugar so that once it was beaten with the above egg yolks it looked like it did in a random picture I found on the internet.
Full fat milk bought to just under boiling point then poured onto the above mixture.
Double cream lightly whipped then added so that the whole mixture looked like it would fill my ice cream maker.
After that we just added the wasabi. As we grated the wasabi root it fell naturally into clumps which we figured would disperse as the mixture churned, but this didn’t quite work as hoped. If I was doing it again I’d attempt to use more wasabi, and would try to stir it through more evenly before the churning /freezing process started.
Nonetheless the result was awesome. I had a scoop over a plate of smoked salmon and at the risk of sounding vainglorious it really was one of the most interesting and nicest things I had ever had. I could imagine it appearing on the menu at the Fat Duck. So Hetson – if you’re reading this – give me a call!