Balsamic roasted Tomato-Basil Ice cream…ahha..You heard it right Tomato Ice cream!

August 31, 2011

Most of you are now familiar with Food Network’s bi-weekly summer fest. Every other week, using one main ingredient you have to create one recipe and that way you can participate in it with other food bloggers. This week the main ingredient is “Tomato”. As always, I was so confused with tons of ideas in my mind.You can literally make anything out of tomato…right? Say for example, Margherita pizza, Caprese salad, Brushetta, Tomato soup, Tomato curry etc…But I was like, all of you must be familiar with all these things and I wanted to make something different which is totally new to everyone. I really hope it is! Have you had tomato ice cream before? If yes, I will appreciate if you leave a comment saying where you had it and how it was. If not, here you go.

You must be wondering, why in the whole world she chose to use tomatoes into an ice-cream? I know, I know. Let me explain! I was really not sure with the flavors either, but I was very much determined to experiment with the flavors I loved the most. And that is none other than a combination of tomato and basil. It is like a match made in heaven, isn’t it? On the top of that a little bit of balsamic vinegar drizzled over tomatoes and basil is like icing on the cake. Excellent combination it is. I also added some ricotta cheese to give it a bit more creaminess. And you have to have some crunchiness in your ice cream, right? So I added plumped tukmaria (basil seeds) to fulfill that requirement. You can find Tukmaria (Basil seeds) in any Indian grocery stores. All the other ingredients are easily available in any grocery stores. Also use good quality of balsamic vinegar, makes all the difference in the world.

So basically, with all the courage in my heart I stepped out of my safe/comfort zone and used these flavors to make this ice cream and tadaaa…. it worked amazingly well. Both of us just loved it and the ice cream is so light that you can just finish the whole tub in one time.

Hey, do you know that it even works as natural bleach for your facial skin? Mix the tomato pulp with some honey and olive oil and your homemade facial pack is ready. Leave it on your skin for 10 minutes and wash it off with warm water. Notice the difference. Don’t forget to apply some moisturizer. Okay okay, here is the recipe of amazing Balsamic roasted tomato and basil ice cream. I hope you will enjoy it.

Yields: 1 quart sufficient for 4-6 people (Only if you really want to share)

Ingredients:

1 pint of cherry/grape tomatoes
2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar + 1 pinch of salt to sprinkle over tomatoes while roasting
½ cup Basil leaves packed + more to garnish
1 1/2 cups of low-fat Organic milk (I used 2%)
1 1/2 cups half and half
2/3 – 1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
½ of Madagascar vanilla bean or 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
¼ cup Low-fat ricotta cheese – room temperature
1 Tbsp Basil seeds (optional)

To Garnish:

Sliced cherry tomatoes
Basil leaves
Balsamic syrup (Completely optional)
Some basil seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut cherry/grape tomatoes in half and toss them with balsamic vinegar. Arrange cut cherry tomatoes, cut side up, on baking sheet. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt (about 1/4 tsp) and roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. While your tomatoes are roasting in oven, side by side you can prepare for the ice cream base.

In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup milk and keep it aside.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together remaining milk, half and half, sugar, and salt. Split Vanilla bean in half and add it to milk mixture. Add basil leaves and bring it to boil over medium heat. Basil will add flavor and change a color only a bit.

When it comes to boil, cook it for 5 more minutes and then add cornstarch mixture while stirring continuously (Do not stop stirring, otherwise you will get cornstarch lumps in your creamy Ice-cream…naah You do not want that, right?).

Bring it to boil one more time and cook for another 5 minutes or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Add ¼ cup of ricotta cheese to the mixture and mix well. Remove from heat and let it cool down.

While it is cooling down, purée those roasted cherry tomatoes in your blender. When milk mixture is almost at room temperature, strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Use back of your spoon to extract all the juices before discarding basil n vanilla. Now it is time to sieve pureed tomatoes. Just leave out seeds and skin of tomatoes. So strain it well. I like the texture of tomato skin and seeds in my ice cream so I added a Tbsp of it before discarding it. So it is completely optional, if you want it add it.

Cover with cling film directly on the surface of milk mixture and refrigerate at least 2 hours to chill. I did it over night.

Once it is chilled, transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to your manufacturer’s instructions. When you start churning your ice cream, soak basil seeds in to ¼ cup of warm water. This will help seeds to plump up a bit. Strain the water and add the plumped basil seeds during the last-minute of churning.

When done, transfer ice cream to a freezer safe storage container and freeze until set. Mine took more than 5 hours to set completely. It also depends on your freezer.

It is ready to serve. Garnish with some sliced cherry tomatoes, basil leaves and sprinkle with basil seeds.

Taste: Super light, bit creamy. Tomatoes and vinegar adds little bit of tanginess but basil balances out everything. It adds wonderful aroma and makes it flavorful. Super like it!