michelle picker cooks

Here’s another Makrut (Kaffir) lime ice cream made with both the zest and leaves. To intensify the flavour, I first steeped the rinds in sugar to draw the oils out of the zest.

Use a vegetable peeler to peel 1 cup of zest from your limes. Place them in a jar with ¾ of a cup of sugar. Crush the rinds into the sugar – you can use a spoon or a cocktail muddler – and continue to do so every now and then. You can leave them for a few days. When you’re ready to make the ice cream, measure 2 cups of milk and remove 2 tablespoons to make a slurry with 4 – 5 teaspoons of cornflour (cornstarch). In a saucepan bring to boil the remainder of the milk, 1¼ cups of double cream, 2 tablespoons of corn syrup, a few lime leaves and the lime rinds and sugar from your jar. Allow the mixture to simmer for 4 minutes then remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cornflour. Return it to the heat and let the mixture thicken. Strain out the lime rinds and leaves and cool the mixture in an ice bath. When it’s cold, pour the mixture into a high speed blender. Add 3 tablespoons of softened cream cheese and ⅛ of a teaspoon each of fine sea salt, guar gum and xanthan gum. Blend until very smooth and refrigerate, preferably overnight, before churning. When the ice cream is churned, freeze it for at least 4 hours before serving. Serve with roasted salted peanuts.