One of my past times during this time at home is watching professional chefs cook from their homes on Instagram. One of my favorite duos is the brains behind one of my favorite restaurants in London, Honey & Co. If you ever get to travel to London and you love Middle Eastern-inspired food you have to hit this spot. More than once over the past couple of months they have talked about Tahini ice cream and it makes me drool every time. I love putting tahini on everything from savory to baked goods. Since there are no immediate plans of hopping across the pond I got to work in the kitchen and created this recipe for Tahini Pomegranate Molasses Ice Cream.
We have been enjoying a lot of Middle Eastern food at home during the pandemic. I blame it on the strong desire to be traveling instead of the situation we are in. I am slowly testing out a pile of cookbooks that I have not had time to lose myself in prior to now and I am having fun. It is kind of like being away in another land. Needless to say, we are eating pretty well.
When I started working on this recipe, Lenny turned his nose up when I said I was using tahini as an ingredient. He associates this with hummus and while there is not a chickpea insight he kept wondering about this dessert being savory. Do not be afraid! Trust me! When I was experiencing an allergic reaction to peanuts (it is going away now) I started using tahini as the creamy peanut ingredient in many recipes. It worked out really well.
Tahini is not nut-based, instead, it is made of ground-up sesame seeds, and it is not sweet. I find it earthy and nutty in flavor. In this recipe, it is faint enough to leave you curious as to what it is. I really like the flavor of tahini alongside tart and juicy pomegranate syrup. The first few times making this recipe I used date syrup which is nice but the pomegranate syrup completely changes the recipe giving it a more complex and exotic flare.
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Tips for success:
- Whole Milk – use the real thing as it makes the recipe creamier and richer. The fat needs to be there to hold it all together. Plus, you are eating ice cream so you must not be on a diet.
- Chill Out – be sure to let the custard base sit for 24 hours in the refrigerator. The flavors mingle and the churning produces creamier ice cream.
- Ice Cream Container – use one to store your finished ice cream that is meant for doing this job; otherwise, I find ice crystals form. I like the Tovolo brand.
Tools:
Recipes: Tahini Pomegranate Molasses Ice Cream
** makes just slightly less than 1.5 quarts
Ingredients:
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split in half
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup pomegranate syrup
How To:
- Pour the milk and heavy cream into a large saucepan. Add the vanilla bean which has been split in half. I like to ease some of the vanilla bean seeds out into the mixture as well.
- Gently heat over medium heat until slow boil. Turn off the heat and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and tahini. Slowly start pouring in the warm milk, while whisking the entire time until all the milk has been added. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan along with the vanilla bean.
- Over low heat and constantly stirring, cook until the custard base coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not stop stirring or you will have scrambled eggs.
- Pour the mixture into a glass bowl and press plastic wrap on top of the custard to create a seal. Place into the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day when ready to churn the ice cream remove the vanilla bean from the custard and pour the mixture into your ice cream maker. Churn the ice cream according to your machine’s instructions.
- After churning, pour the ice cream into a freezer-proof container. Swirl in the pomegranate syrup using a knife.
- Serve and enjoy or place into the freezer for later.
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