Philadelphia-Style Lemon Ice Cream

Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and fourth of July (where applicable).

My weekend was great. Well, ignoring what happened to my car. Which died, suddenly and most patriotically, on the fourth of July.

Naturally this isn't a good thing. Particularly when you're the anxious OCD type like myself. Anything that throws a wrench into your normal routine threatens your sanity. My poor mother had to recruit me away from my car-less pacing and hand-wringing to help her with dinner. This is how the dessert for today's post came to be.

Mother Humble: Can you make me some lemon ice cream?

Me: *twitch* My car died! My universe is collapsing around me!

Mother Humble: *Ignores me*

Me: Okay… but an easy ice cream. No custards or curds.

Mother Humble: I'll zest the lemons…

So I made up this ice cream for Mother Humble's Prosecco apricot soup. It is very simple and requires no cooking. Just the absolute basics. Cream, Sugar, Lemon. It is light, creamy and refreshing. Not quite as dense or rich as a standard custard based ice cream, but the simplicity allows the bright flavor of fresh lemon to shine through.

A few of the things eaten on the 4th (in various stages of done-ness)
Mr. Humble's bread, steaks and stuffed squash blossoms (prior to grilling/frying),
wee-potato salad, marinated shrimp olive and parsley skewers, salmon cakes,
grilled vegetables, prosecco apricot soup with lemon ice cream, sauté morels

So, as soon as I finish typing this up I'm off to visit one of my local car dealerships. I need to consider some of my options. A new car is probably long over due, as my current one uses a coal fired engine. As I write this I'm getting all anxious thinking about it. I don't like car dealerships. I don't speak the language and I walk around with a dumb, frightened look.

I always go in assured of what I want, but my plan and my confidence evaporates the moment one of the staff members starts talking to me about cars.

This is how I expect today to go down:

Me: Hi, Can I see this model? I liked the standard features online and I …

Mr. Car Guy: Oh no, you need the next model up. Without the FV-75 IDO System, the brakes won't work at speeds exceeding 25mph and the steering column will occasionally burst into flames.

Me: Uh…I do like breaks. Wait, flames? Oh… I guess I need that?

Mr. Car Guy: Absolutely. You should also consider the sea mammal seating harness and restraint system.

Me: But I don't…

Mr. Car Guy: Do you want to kill a baby seal?!

Me: No! Of course not, but I don't know if I can afford…

Mr. Car Guy gives me look of horror and disgust

Me: *panic* How much is the harness?!

Mr. Car Guy: Alright. Well, it is part of our mammal safety add-on package…

Yup. That is exactly what is going to happen.



Philadelphia-Style Lemon Ice Cream
from Luscious Lemon Desserts
yields a scant one quart
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup + two tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest
pinch salt

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Allow to stand for 20 minutes at room temperature, whisking every couple minutes to help dissolve the sugar. (The recipe now calls for it to be strained and you may do that. However, I love lemon zest and my microplane makes the finest, fluffiest zest so I wasn't too concerned about the affect it may have on the texture of my ice cream).

Chill this mixture for 3 hours until very cold.

Add the mixture to your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once finished, place into a lidded container and chill until firm.