Pumpkin ice cream

I was first inspired to have a go at making this ice cream when I went to my local food market and saw the most fantastic display of squashes and pumpkins. It was like something out of a harvest festival – all the colours of the rainbow and textures from as smooth as a babies bottom to as wrinkly and gnarled as grandmas elbow!

Having had a ponchon for pumpkin for a few years now, I had already worked my way through a range of recipes including: pumpkin curry, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin soup, pumpkin mash and pumpkin pie (the latter was expertly made for me by Big D when he cam out for grad at the beginning of the year). I decided that it was time to take things to the next level and try pumpkin ice cream…

Alas, by the time I had pondered how best to achieve this culinary feet, the wonderful display of gourds at the food market was somewhat diminished and I was left with just the standard ‘white’ pumpkins and the ubiquitous butternut squash. However, by this time I had already invited over my good friends Sherrie and Ross (fellow Antarcticites) to come and experience the joys of cranking and so has to make do with what was left.

The preparation of the pumpkin was fairly similar to the preparation of the beetroot in the recently posted beetroot ice cream. I first grated the flesh, then spread it out thinly on a heavy metal sheet and roasted it at about 150 deg for +/- 40 min until it had dried out a bit and just started to get a slightly sweet caramelized taste.

I then added about 3 tablespoons of honey and blended the mix before finally rubbing the whole lot through a sieve to make sure there were absolutely no lumps.

I used about half a large butternut and 900 g of white pumpkin. This made 3 treys full of the grated pumpkin mix and about 2/3 of a cup of the pure.  The final mix for my half gallon freezer was then made up as follows:

• 2 cups cream (32 % fat)
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sugar (3 tbs honey already in mix)
• pinch of cloves
• pinch of cinnamon
• top up with full cream milk

(I know there really should have been an egg in here but my fridge was shamefully bare so it was omitted!)

Then it was outside to crank.

The final result was certainly edible.  I think there was a good balance of cream and pumpkin and just a suggestion of caramel and spices. Although the pumpkin flavour did come through fairly well, if I were to make it again I would probably try and intensify it to get a better flavour and richer colour. I reckon this could be achieved by increasing the amount of pure or by going for a variety of pumpkin which has a stronger flavour.

I would be curious to hear what people who have more pumpkin pie experience than me think of this recipe…