Ice cream (old time classic & favourite)

Summertime and the living is not that easy. Many people seem to have lost their mind, or at least they are out and about more now that the weather is (really) hot and I notice them easier.

Our summer seems to be defined by these two questions (the first especially among children, but aren’t we all deep down):

–“How many ice creams have you eaten?”

-“How many times have you been to the beach?”

I always get pissed off when people ask me about going to the beach (but a quick look at my pale/off white skin tone would give them an answer)

– No ice creams, no beach (followed by silence, something must be wrong with me, how could I be Greek and not a natural beach bum?)

This year the hot trend is the frozen yoghurt, or fro-yo or whatever it is called in each place, but I am not on antibiotics, so I’ll pass, thanks!

Also, I haven’t bothered buying that ice cream machine I wanted. So, I resorted to this old school recipe that doesn’t require any high tech ice cream machine. My aunt used to make this every year and she would always serve one scoop, as it is quite rich and sweet, sprinkled by a teaspoon of finely chopped caramelized almonds that she would hide on the highest kitchen cabinet, so that someone chubby and glutton wouldn’t eat them all (I’m not gonna name any names here). As I didn’t have any almonds, I made some salted peanut florentines.

A few words about the recipe:

• this is a quick and easy recipe, with an excellent result as the ice cream is soft and rich in taste
• the more times you beat/stir the cream as it freezes, the softer the texture of the ice cream will be
• you can use a fork or a spatula, but a handheld mixer will have a better result
• for better result, the cream and the milks have to be cold (I just beat them in room temperature with no problems)
• I divided the cream in two and I melted in a water bath about 50 grams of gianduja, that I poured the last time I beat the cream (pictured above)

Ice cream (no ice cream machine involved)

(my aunt’s Georgia recipe)

1 can non dairy whipped cream
1 can sweet condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk (I used 2% fat)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whip the cream in high speed for a few minutes, until it has thickened (4-5 minutes) (I forgot this step)

Add the condensed and the evaporated milk and beat some for a few more minutes until you have a thickened cream. Beat in the vanilla.

Put the mixture in the fridge for an hour, to chill (I beat it twice while it was cooling). Put the bowl in the freezer and after 20 minutes take it out and with a handheld mixture (fork, or spatula) beat it until it is creamy. Repeat this step 2-3 times (the more you beat it, the creamier the ice cream will be).