Friday, November 03, 2006

Melting Moments

I walked pass a leafy stretch of Belgrano yesterday just to realise all the shops and cafes on that particular block were having a black-out. Nobody is suggesting that we are having an energy crisis but two shops had their own generators cranking noisily; one of them was a Munchi's ice cream parlour. Judging from the darkness in spite of their equipment, I think they just had enough to keep the ice creams from going off.

Since I was recovering from a blitz spell of food poisoning from my merluza (hake/鱈魚) at lunch earlier, I defensively thought about not having any more ice cream between now and December when Guillermo and I can once again indulge in concoctions as close to gelati as one could get outside of il Bel Paese. Second thought, I think I am going to ease off fish until then as well.

However, since yesterday my twisted mind has not been able to stop churning over all ice cream related matters. I recently read about Saltshaker's sampling of some disappointing coconut ice cream at a puerta cerrada (literally closed door but means a private dining club or 私房菜). Arrgh! Coconut ice cream has been a secret back burner project of mine for as long as I've given up on them in this town - they tend to be very coarsely textured with dried up and flavourless desiccated coconut.

With a bottle of coconut milk in my pantry originally intended for a curry dinner and the thought of dodgy ice cream due to our non-existent energy crisis, I may just have to attempt some homemade coconut ice cream...

370ml coconut milk
3 egg yolks
90g caster sugar
2/3 tbsp cornflour
120ml double cream

Place coconut milk in a saucepan and bring to just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about half an hour.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar and cornflour until pale. Gradually add the coconut milk, whisking constantly.

Return to the saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the custard thickens. Remove from the heat, strain into a clean bowl and leave to cool. Chill. Churn in a machine until thick. Freeze.