Basil and lemon curd ice cream

This recipe was given to me by Connie Finnemore. She served a mysterious, green ice cream after dinner one night in Cape Town, and it was - hands down - the best ice cream I have ever tasted (oddly, for a non ice cream eater, I recently made one to rival it: pawpaw, Asimina triloba. But that is another story).

The combination of lemon, basil and gin in cream is intense, refreshing and surprising. The hard liquor stops the cream from setting rock hard and gives it a lovely texture. Even better, this recipe is very easy.

My Thai basil (from Grow Journey seed) is still producing glut-quantities, and it worked very well, here.

I have also substituted mint for the basil, and white rum for the gin. Keep the lemon curd. And I am thinking of a less sweet version to scoop into gazpacho...

If you can't find it locally, here is my lemon curd recipe.

Connie's recipe calls for 3 "tots" -  a British measure. I take a tot to mean 25 ml, or 1 fl oz.

Basil Ice Cream - serves 6  (two scoops each)

1 cup whipping cream
325 grams/11.5 oz lemon curd
30  grams/1 oz fresh basil (stalks removed )
3 fl oz/75 ml gin

In a bowl, whip the cream till soft peaks form. Place the lemon curd, basil and gin in a blender and puree till smooth (you can also combine all ingredients in a blender, but the cream may thicken before the leaves are fine enough).

Fold the whipped cream into the basil mixture.

Freeze in a glass terrine dish or similar receptacle than can hold the mixture to a height of about three inches (for easy scooping).