Sweet Corn Strawberry Margarita Ice Cream

I'm sure by now you have figured out that I am infatuated with my ice cream machine. I love ice cream, and I admit it! If I could figure out a way to make any meal into ice cream, I would, well, with the exception of a few things (sushi and eggs sunny side up come to mind). Turkey and dressing ice cream, pumpkin pie ice cream, see what I mean? Ok, maybe I am a bit delirious. Having said that, it is no mystery how I came up with a sweet corn ice cream with strawberry margarita flavors swirled in, or maybe it is a mystery. Anyway, I tried it and it isn't too bad, in fact, it is pretty darn good.

This concoction was made with more of the fresh corn from The Hahn Farm, and frozen whole strawberries that I picked earlier this year. The taste of the corn really stands out, reminding me of creamed corn pudding. The strawberry taste was not as prominent as I would have liked, so I used the extra sauce as a topping, which was quite good. I wanted to get the taste of the margarita mixture. I hope you will give this a try, don't be afraid! If you do, let me know how you like it, or if you have already made something similar, leave a comment as well. As with the other recent posts, the base of the ice cream is adapted from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream vanilla bean recipe. The rest is my imagination.

Sweet Corn Strawberry Margarita Ice Cream
makes about 4 cups

2 cups 2% milk

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 tablespoons)

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

3 ears of fresh bicolor sweet corn

2 cups whole frozen strawberries

2 tbl sugar

1/3 cup water

zest of 1/2 orange

zest of 1 lime

2 shots tequila

generous squeeze of both orange and lime juice

lime slice to garnish

Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch and set aside until later.

Cut the corn kernels from the cob and break the cobs into 3 or 4 pieces. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, corn kernels and broken cobs. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat, cover and let infuse for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove the corn cobs, and puree the mixture. You can do this with an immersion blender as I did, or pour in a blender to puree. With the mixture back in the pan, reheat over medium high heat. Then off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the salt. Set the bowl in an ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes (make sure this gets cold so it will freeze properly).

Strain the ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is about 5 minute from being done, add 1/2 cup of the strawberry sauce and continue to process. Pack the ice cream into a plastic container.

Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze the vanilla ice cream until firm, about 4 hours.

When ready to serve, place the container in the fridge for about 15 minutes to soften. I served scoops in margarita glasses with a lime wheel. Cheers!

For the sauce:

While the mixture in infusing, place the strawberries, 2 tbl of sugar, water and citrus zests over medium high heat. When it begins to bubble, turn the heat to medium low and cook until the berries are soft and the sauce has thickened. You can use your spoon to break up some of the berries while they are cooking and you should stir occasionally. When thickened, remove from the heat, add the citrus juices and the tequila. Stir well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You will have about 1 cup of sauce, so you will have some left to serve with the ice cream.