A Taste of Yellow: Lemon-Olive Oil Ice Cream with Lemon Rosemary Cornmeal Shortbread

L

As many of you know if you read my post on Carli’s Bees Cheese, cancer has had a big impact on our family. We have lost those dear to us, and have others who have fought and won their battles. So, when I read about the Taste of Yellow blogging event, to help raise awareness for Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG day, of course I was going to participate.

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    LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.


The event, created by a fabulous lady and food blogger deeply touched by cancer, Barbara of Winos and Foodies, is a call to attention through what we food bloggers do best… cooking and sharing our stories. It’s also an opportunity to donate to the cause, and join in other LIVESTRONGevents. I’ve decided to donate all proceeds raised by ads on this blog between May 1 and LIVESTRONG Day, May 16th. It may not be much, but every little bit counts! (Update: Total donation as of 5/8 is $30Total donation as of 5/14 is $42)

And, of course, I have a recipe… two actually… all decked out in yellow to share. The first comes from David Lebovitz’s new book, The Perfect Scoop. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find the recipe for Olive Oil Ice Cream as I was browsing through the book… I had my first taste of the stuff at Sitka and Spruce about a month ago, and fell in love with it. I knew making my own would be on the docket for this summer, but how perfect to find the recipe just as I was looking for something yellow to make. I went with the Lemon-Olive Oil variation, to bump up the yellow quotient a bit more. Oh me, oh my. This is good stuff.

David’s suggestion was to pair the ice cream with a good, chocolate sauce… and of course, the man knows his chocolate, and I’m sure it would be divine. But, I wanted even more yellow to the dish, and got the idea of a cornmeal shortbread cookie stuck in my head. The nubby savory sweet flavor of the cornbread seemed like just a fantastic match for the creamy, fruity ice cream. With a few modifications to the orange cornmeal shortbread recipe that I found in The Last Course, I was in business. I swapped out the orange for more lemon, a quick squeeze of lemon juice for the vanilla, and added in some freshly picked, coarsely chopped rosemary. Other herbs would be great too… I had a hard time choosing between the rosemary, sage or fresh basil. In fact, I might have to make more just to try out the other flavors.

I like the shortbread just tucked into the ice cream as a garnish, but it’s also great crumbled up as a cookie topping and then lightly mixed in as the ice cream starts to soften.

Lemon-Olive Oil Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, p 83

Note: Make sure that you use the really good olive oil, something with a really fruity rather than a really olivey flavor.

1/2 cup high quality olive oil
finely grated zest from one lemon
1 t lemon juice
1 1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
6 large egg yolks

First, is your ice cream make ready to use?

In a small pan, heat the olive oil to just warm, add the lemon zest, and then remove from heat and set aside to cool and infuse.

In a non-reactive pan, combine the milk, sugar and salt and warm over medium heat until the sugar is well integrated and the milk is warm to the touch, stirring occasionally to prevent any scorching. Don’t bring it to a boil.

While the milk is heating, place the cream in a non-reactive, large bowl with a fine-mesh strainer above it, and get an ice bath ready to place that bowl into.

Separate the eggs, and place the yolks in a medium sized bowl. Give them a quick whisk. Then, start adding the warm milk mixture about a 1/2 cup at a time, whisking as you add it. When all the milk is incorporated, return the whole mixture to the milk pan. Return to heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens to coat the back of the spoon. Make sure that you keep the bottom from scorching. As soon as the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat, and pour it through the strainer, into the cream. Stir until combined, then add the olive oil, zest and lemon juice. Whisk until it is smooth. Then place the bowl into the ice bath to cool.

Once it reaches room temperature, cover and chill in the refrigerator. Then, freeze according to your ice cream makers instructions.

Lemon, Rosemary Cornmeal Shortbread
adapted from The Last Course by Claudia Fleming, p 88

Makes 8 wedges

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 t finely chopped fresh rosemary
zest from 1 lemon
1 T lemon juice
1 scant cup flour
3 T coarse cornmeal
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 300F. Line a medium sized round tart or cake pan with parchment.

Mix together the butter and powdered sugar until creamy. Add rosemary, zest and juice and beat to combine well. Continue to beat, and add the flour, cornmeal and salt. The batter will be quite thick.

Press the batter into lined pan, and spread as evenly as possible. Score the dough into 8 wedges with a knife, and then prick each piece with a fork.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the shortbread is a light, pale golden color. Remove from heat, and let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. Then, cut along the knife marks to separate the pieces. Lift the shortbread out (carefully) with the parchment, and let cool for another 20 to 30 minutes on a wire rack.

0 thoughts on “A Taste of Yellow: Lemon-Olive Oil Ice Cream with Lemon Rosemary Cornmeal Shortbread

  1. I love the ice cream and shortbread jumbled together. What kind of ice cream maker do you use? Also what olive oil did you use?

  2. mmm, I have been craving an olive-oil / white pepper sweet bread that I’ve made a few times. This might salve that craving… and I happen to have one last lemon from the tree.

  3. I was also curious to know what type of olive oil you used. I recently made olive oil and vanilla macarons and it turned out marvelous.
    I love the idea of mingling the oil and lemon. Beautiful recipe.

  4. OMG. Now I’m sure the ice cream is fab but it’s the Lemon, Rosemary Cornmeal Shortbread that has been driving me crazy since I saw it in The Last Course by Claudia Fleming! Yours looks incredible.

  5. Olive oil ice cream!!???!! There’s a flavour I would have never thought possible. Few days ago I bought a special bottle of local olive oil (Liguria)and I was keeping it for something special…I guess I found it. Your pics are mouthwatering as usual : )

  6. Oh, I just love the idea of serving shortbread alongside ice-cream – they seem perfect together! I will definitely have to give both of the recipes a try. I’m really enjoying David’s book as well. Gorgeous entries!

  7. Lara; Thanks for making this ice cream as your contribution to the event! I wanted to participate but got swamped with other things. But even if I did, I couldn’t have made it look as beautiful as you did. Merci!

  8. Oh my… I am so behind on comments! Thank you all for your support of this great event.

    On the olive oil, since lots of folks asked… I used the salad olive oil that I had in my cupboard. It’s an early-harvest, organic, first cold pressed, extra virgin from Neñez de Prado. It’s quite nice… although my intention had been to go out and get an even better on, but I didn’t quite get to it.

    Vanessa – I have a cuisinart ice cream maker… one of those with the canister that you freeze.

    Anita – I love these bowls too. They came as a set, in 4 different interior colors. I’ve never found anything quite like them. And now I can’t remember where I got them!

    Barbara – Thank YOU for hosting such a great event!

    Helen – your macarons sound fantastic…

    Tanna – You simply can’t go wrong with shortbread!

    Sara – Thanks! I’ll have to check out your post too!

    Thanks Brooke!

    Ales – Sounds like a great bottle of olive oil!

    Thanks Anali!

    Gilly – Thanks! And, yes, they go so wonderfully together.

    David – Thanks! The book is really great. I knew I was going to make the olive oil recipe as soon as I saw it, but i was awfully tempted to switch to the pear and pecorino on the previous page… oh, so many ice creams, so little time.

  9. Beautiful! If i hadn’t seen your photo for this olive oil ice cream, i would have thought “ew! olive oil in ice cream?”. You make it look so irresistable!

    Plus love the very last photo – i love using old enamel props! I just bought another one at portobello road market on my last visit to add to my collection.

  10. this is such a fantastic entry for the livestrong event.I would love to eat this wonderful ice cream( oh what lovely flavours) with the cookie crumbled on top :))

  11. divine! oh i love olive oil ice cream/gelato! what kind of oil did you use? lemon is the perfect complement ot boost the olive oil flavor. the ice cream looks so creamy, and the shortbread cookies look fantastic. great photos, too!

  12. Looks and sounds soooo delicious. First I have to try your recipes. As if I’d known it I bought a very, very good fruity organic Portugues olive oil from Bunalun a couple of days ago. And since for the last few months I’ve made already so many different ice creams and started to create my own flavours I think I have to get my hands on David’s new release.

  13. mmm…
    I can see why you got nominated for a thinking blog award.
    With lemons and rosemary growing wildly in my garden I am extremely interested in those shortbreads as a nice change from my lavender ones.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Nathalie

  14. Tried the shortbread recipe yesterday evening and it was indeed lovely. I also made an orange and sage version of it which came out wickedly delicious too.
    I think I might try a savoury version over the weekend.
    Nathalie

  15. In the lemon icecream recipe, when should I add 1 table spoon of lemon juice? has it been mentioned somewhere in the recipe and I dont see it?
    thanks

  16. Ok. That’s it! I’m pleased that I had added it at the right point while making this delicious ice-cream. Just wanted to be sure before publishing it on my food blog πŸ™‚

  17. Delicious! Tried it with O Olive Oil’s Blood Orange and Meyer lemon. Yep! They actually crush the whole citrus with the olives. Going crazy now making it warmer weather. Thanks for a great recipe.

  18. i’m just starting my blog

    but i needed to tell you that this recipe is right up my alley and so beautiful…

    i really like what you’re doing

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