Honey and Lavender Ice-Cream

If you are lucky enough to get fresh honey with the hive intact, it’s a brilliant idea to keep the hive and use it to serve honey lavender ice cream to your guests.  This gourmet ice cream recipe is healthier than your regular ice cream because it uses honey instead of sugar, making it a perfect dessert option for sugar-conscious moms who crave for sweets. Lavender honey ice cream is a uniquely French treat that is rarely commercially available so it makes a great homemade experiment to impress your guests with something new that they haven’t tried before. 

Lavender honey can be naturally made by bees that collect only lavender nectar and are housed near fields of lavender flowers.  You can’t always get it and if it is available, is quite expensive. A more convenient and less expensive alternative is to make lavender-infused honey.  It is as simple as cooking lavender flowers in honey and putting it in a jar then leaving it for a few days until the flavor of the lavender flowers blends in with the honey. Thereafter, the lavender flowers are strained to make this delicious dessert. 

Honey lavender ice cream is best enjoyed with some cookies or a light pastry. For this recipe, Chef Jany Gleize combines the ice cream with a cigarette pastry made with eggs, sugar and flour.  He makes use of the hive as a bed for the golden yellow ice cream with flecks of purple lavender buds to make the plate look even more delectable and make the dessert taste and smell sweeter. Chef Glaize notes that it is very important to get fine quality lavender when making dessert, not hybrid lavender which is okay if you’re making soup.

Ingredients

250 g of lavender

honey 4 egg yolks

250 g of milk

125 g of cream small flower

400 g of dough to cigarette

7 g of lavender flower

1. The honey lavender infusion must be prepared several days before making the ice cream so that the lavender can sit in the honey and produce a more distinct flavor. Cook lavender flowers and buds in honey and store in a jar.

2. To make the ice cream, heat the milk, cream, lavender honey and eggs and stir until they are thoroughly combined and dissolved together. Let cool and put in the freezer for a few hours until they crystallize. Process the frozen ingredients in the ice cream maker and store ice cream in the fridge.

3. To make the cigarette pastry, combine sugar, flour, lavender seeds, and egg whites and mix together until it forms a creamy and even texture. Spread the cream on phyllo sheets cut in rectangular shapes place on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in a 180 degree oven for a few minutes until it browns. Once cooked, allow to cool for awhile and fold into a cylindrical shape with the aid of a rolling pin.

4. To serve, cut the hive into a rounded shape and place at the center of the plate. Scoop the ice cream and place on top of hive. Place cigarette pastry on the side and decorate with lavender flowers. Add lavender or chocolate syrup if you wish.

Creme Brulee With Ginger And Basil

The crème brulee is a quintessential French dessert made of delicate, creamy flan with a golden brown crust of caramelized sugar on the top. But in this recipe, Chef Mario d’Orio of Le Mahatma Restaurant takes it a step further by adding ginger and basil leaves for a more exciting and sophisticated take on the dessert. At times fragrant and therapeutic, the ginger and basil provide a contrast to the creamy sweetness of the traditional custard.

Vanilla bean is the primary flavoring of the classic crème brulee and the chefs recipes still includes it. The addition of the ginger, grated or minced finely, is done at the same time as the vanilla bean so that the flavors are cooked into the custard. The basil leaves, which does its best when fresh and with the least amount of cooking, are added during the last stages of the preparation. It is chopped finely, which releases its sweet, herby fragrance. The crème brulee is one of the easiest desserts to prepare if you look at the directions but care must be exercised when cooking the milk and cream into a custard lest it curdles or overcooks. You will have to know when it’s time to take the dessert out of the fire. The egg yolks are added and whisked to make the custard. This recipe can be a stepping stone for further experimentations with flavoring the crème brulee beyond basil and ginger. Should you wish, you can add coffee, chocolate, green tea, liqueur, lemon, pistachio, and orange zest later on to the basic custard.

While crème brulee means “burnt cream,” it is the brown sugar layer which is actually “burnt.” Using a blowtorch, the sugar is caramelized until it forms a crust on top to seal in the rich, creamy and silky custard base. With the basil and ginger, this luxurious dessert becomes invigorating and refreshing to the senses. Serve with a glass of Sauterne.

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 ¾ tablespoons ginger

1 vanilla pod

¼ lb. sugar

10 egg yolks

1 pint heavy cream

10 basil leaves

brown sugar

1. Peel and cut ginger into thin and small pieces. In a medium saucepan, cook the milk over medium heat. Add the ginger and sugar then stir. Scrape vanilla bean and place the pulp and bean in saucepan. Stir then bring to a boil. Set aside to cool.

2. In a bowl, separate the eggs. Set aside the egg whites for other uses. Whisk egg yolks until rich and smooth. Strain the cream and add to the egg yolks a little at a time, stirring continually until blended. Finely chop the basil and stir into the mixture.

3. Pour in shallow bowls or casserole dish and place in a preheated 100 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes or just until the cream is set and trembling in the center.

4. Allow the dish to cool then refrigerate for two hours and up to three days. Before serving, sprinkle sugar and caramelize using a blowtorch. Garnish with thin spirals of ginger.