By Request

By Kekoa Catherine Enomoto

Wednesday, July 8, 1998

File photo
Crisp little cookies complement
big scoops of rich ice cream.

---

Once you've mastered vanilla
Make it with mango

Exotic flavors are easy to turn out
with home ice cream makers

A midsummer night's ice cream is swirled with fresh fruit purees. Iris Miyashiro e-mailed, "I recently purchased an ice cream maker and recall seeing many recipes for various flavors of ice cream and sorbets. Can you please tell how I can search for them online? Some contained local fruits, such as mango and lychee."

For online sites with ice-cream recipes, start with "Hazel's Recipe Files: Ice Cream" at http://hazel.ddb.com/Icecream/index.html

This site leads to more ice-cream links, such as CNN -- The inside scoop on ice cream sites; FoodWeb: Indexes and Guides to Recipes; and Stephen Mann's Ice Cream Pages.

Also, Krups, manufacturer of ice cream makers and other small kitchen appliances, offers free recipes for ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet. To receive copies, send a stamped, self-addressed business envelope to Krups "La Glaciere" Recipes, c/o PT & Co., 320 West 13th St., seventh floor, New York, NY 10014.

While July is National Ice Cream Month and July 21 is National Ice Cream Day, Americans love the frozen treats all year round. Jim Auchmutey of Cox News Service notes that Americans buy some 2 million ice cream makers a year, mostly electric, meaning you don't even have to turn a crank anymore to customize frozen desserts according to any whim and dietary requirement.

In the first mango-laced recipe below, chef Christopher Kump claims he has achieved a fruit ice cream with the perfect texture and the right balance of fruit and sugar.

Mango ice cream

"Evening Food: Cafe Beaujolais" by Christopher
Kump, Ten Speed Press, 1998, $19.95

2 cups vanilla bean ice cream batter, recipe follows

Mango mixture:
5 to 6 ripe mangoes, peeled, stoned, and strained to remove fibers (3 cups puree)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

In medium bowl, whisk mango-mixture ingredients thoroughly to dissolve sugar. Stir in 2 cups vanilla bean ice cream batter and refrigerate this mixture for 2 hours (to 40 degrees).

Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions. Makes 4 cups.

Approximate nutritional analysis per 1/2-cup serving: 310 calories, 12 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium.*

Vanilla bean ice cream

"Evening Food: Cafe Beaujolais"

2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out and reserved
8 large egg yolks
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

In medium saucepan, bring half-and-half to a boil with vanilla bean and seeds. Remove from heat, cover and set aside 15 minutes to infuse.

Meanwhile, beat egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until very pale yellow in color and doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.

Return infused half-and-half to a boil, remove from heat, and immediately whisk it into yolk-sugar mixture.

Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all of yolk-sugar mixture is dissolved in the half-and-half; then strain this custard through a fine-mesh sieve back into the saucepan, removing the vanilla bean.

Put heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract in a medium bowl set over a large bowl of ice water.

Meanwhile, cook custard on medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spatula and being careful to scrape pan bottom completely, until batter has thickened noticeably. To test custard for doneness, draw a line with your finger across the custard coating the spatula; when it leaves a lasting trace, it is sufficiently thickened (185 degrees on instant-read thermometer). Remove from heat and continue to stir briskly and thoroughly for 2 more minutes. (Do not allow custard to exceed this temperature or eggs will scramble. Should this occur, blend sauce for a few seconds in a blender or with a hand-held immersion blender, and strain through a sieve before continuing.)

Pour thickened custard through fine-mesh sieve into the bowl of chilled cream, stirring to blend. Allow this batter to cool completely, stirring occasionally. Keep batter over ice water or refrigerate until it is 45 degrees.

Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions. Makes 5 cups.

Approximate nutritional analysis per 1/2-cup serving: 320 calories, 23 g total fat, 13 g saturated fat, 210 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.*

Lilikoi-mango ice

"Evening Food: Cafe Beaujolais"

1/2 cup strained lilikoi (passion fruit) pulp and juice (fresh or frozen; if using fresh, use approximately 14 passion fruits)
1 cup pureed and strained mango pulp
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup water

In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients thoroughly to dissolve sugar; then freeze in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze until ready to serve. Makes 5 cups.

Approximate nutritional analysis per 1/2-cup serving: 130 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, 10 mg sodium.*

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
By Request, Honolulu Star-Bulletin Food Section,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.