As I write this post we are stuck in traffic on the 15 Fwy heading back home from Utah. Speeds are varying anywhere from 10 mph to 40 mph, the thermostat says the outside temperature is currently a toasty 91 degrees. Inside the car however, it’s a comfortable 76 degrees.
We were in Utah visiting some old friends who recently moved to Saint George. Saturday night they took us to the Tuacahn Amphitheater where we enjoyed a 50s themed dinner followed by a great performance of Grease. The plan for Sunday was to wake up early and do a little hiking at Zion National Park however, as expected we stayed up a little too late enjoying a cocktail or two while catching up. -What usually happens when you hang out with good friends whom you haven’t seen in a while. We did eventually make our way over to the park and thoroughly enjoyed it’s magnificence. However, we will definitely have to return for the full experience! Following the short visit to Zion we stopped at The Painted Pony for dinner. If you ever find yourself in Saint George and want to enjoy a nice meal, this is the place to go.
We left their house around 1:30 PM after they fed us a delicious lunch. Now, fast-forward the clock a little… It’s 6:30 PM and according to the Nav we have close to 2 hours worth of traveling left before we get home. Sigh…
The sun is slowly starting to set and all I can really think about is this mint chip ice cream I made before we left.
Can’t wait to get home and serve myself a bowl!
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup packed fresh mint leaves
- ⅛ teaspoon pure mint extract
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 6-8 drops greed food coloring (optional)
- 4 ounces chocolate mint curls, finely chopped
- In a medium pot bring milk, heavy cream and mint leaves to a rolling boil. Remove pot from heat, cover and allow mint leaves to steep for 30 minutes.
- Whisk egg yolks with half the sugar in a small bowl.
- Return pot to the stove and warm up milk mixture along with the remainder of the sugar.
- Remove pan from heat and slowly pour a small stream of milk into the small bowl with the egg yolks while whisking to temper the eggs, approx. ½ a cups worth. Once the egg yolks have been tempered slowly pour them into the saucepan and stir to combine. Place the saucepan back on the stove over medium heat stir with a wooden spoon until the base covers the back of the spoon or the base reaches a temperature of 180 degrees F.
- Prepare an Ice bath in a bowl big enough to contain a medium bowl with the ice cream base.
- Place a fine mesh strainer placed over the top of a medium bowl. Strain ice cream base into the prepared bowl. Add food coloring, if using and stir to combine. Place bowl into the ice bath and stir occasionally until ice cream base has cooled to room temperature. Transfer to refrigerator for 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Remove ice cream base from refrigerator, pour into your ice cream maker and churn following the manufacturer’s instructions. Approximately 5 minutes before ice cream is done add finely chopped chocolate mint curls.
- Transfer ice cream into an air-tight container and freeze for an additional 4 hours.
