Green Pea Ice Cream - Tips and Recipe by Guy Martin, Le Grand Véfour, Paris on The Worldwide Gourmet

 (See this post at Petrona for an explanation of how this recipe found its way to this blog.)

My little tips & tricks

Since we pair duck with oranges and use pineapple in savoury dishes, why not turn things around and use vegetables in sweet recipes? This idea might seem a little strange at first, but after all, why not? Certainly when I’m in the kitchen there are no taboos and no boundaries. But I don’t set out to surprise or shock with my cooking. Artichoke tart, pea ice cream: these are solid recipes with a story behind them. I come from the country, and the tiny peas you pick in the morning with the dew still on them, only as big as a pinhead, are sweet. They’re like carrots: vegetables that are sweet from the outset. We add a bit of sugar, two or three other little things, and end up with a viable dessert. It’s not just a flight of fancy, it’s something real. There are always one or two vegetable dessert recipes on the menu at Le Grand Véfour that change with the seasons.

Ingredients for 5 people

3 eggs 100 g (1/2 cup) sugar 200 ml (3/4 cup) whole milk 300 ml (1 1/4 cup) cream 700 g (1 1/2 lb.) shelled peas 1/2 bunch mint

Making the ice cream

1. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil; add the peas and cook for 8 minutes. Drain, then plunge them immediately into ice water to stop the cooking and set their bright green colour.
2. Drain again; purée the peas in a blender, then put through a strainer to obtain a fine purée. Place in the refrigerator.
3. Bring the milk and cream to the boil. Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is foamy. Gradually add in the milk and cream, whisking constantly.
4. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring with a spatula in a figure-8 pattern. The mixture must not boil. Cool and refrigerate.
5. When the cream is cold, add the pea purée and combine well. Put the mixture into an ice cream maker to freeze until it attains the consistency of ice cream.
6. Place the ice cream into a shallow container and add the finely chopped mint leaves.
7. Mix with a spatula and store in the freezer.
8. At serving time, fill cones with the ice cream Italian-style, using a piping bag fitted with a star tip, or else form balls with an ice cream scoop.

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