I would like some bread and olive oil please, but I’ll take it in the form of ice cream.  I went to a old fashioned ice cream parlor the other day, but I went specifically for the very modern take of flavorings.  This sweet spot is called Bruin.  It sits right next to Parque del Oeste, a great place to take a walk in the light of the setting sun as you lick your cone.

I really want to try their cheese flavored ice cream (traditional Spanish idiazabal) but, seeing as it’s February and not ice cream season the selection was more limited. I had to settle for olive oil and blueberry. I am certainly going to return for the Sorbet de Cerveza.  Beer sorbet? I think yes.

The olive oil was very smooth as I expected, flavorful but not overwhelming.  It  went perfectly with the blueberry—the icy acid of one cut the richness of the other. Oh, and the cone was perfect.

I brought my friend Scottie along, he enjoyed the treat as well. But he’s holding out for tomato and tamarind.

While Christmas posts will abound soon, I wanted to share this little gem with you. Pomegranate Ice Cream

I’ve been privileged to grow up next to the best ice cream in the entire universe. Sebastian Joe’s is the tastiest vanilla, my mother is an addict, and I consider it the best base for extrapolation. So naturally, I called them to figure out whether or not to use eggs, egg yolks or no eggs at all for the base of my  Pomegranate ice creams for Thanksgiving.  The verdict: whole eggs.

I’ve made many a quart using Mark Bittman’s Basic French Recipe, which yields a rich and smooth flavor.  I’m curious to see what happens when the whites are included. There is also the Basic Philadelphia style, which has no eggs at all, but that is for another day. 

This had to be one of the best ever. I boiled down pom juice to a thickened syrup, with a little less than a cup of sugar to two cups juice and added it to the custard as it turned in the machine–way good. By brother actually put down his spoon, looked me in the eye and asked: “Ellie, what is this!?! I love it!”  That’s the greatest compliment ever. He’s a tough ice cream judge.

I wrote about the health benefits on an earlier post, but I had to share this recipe.  I used a rough version of the POM Wonderful recipe, but didn’t add nearly as much sugar.  Using my own base custard and ommiting the nuts gave a smooth, silky and intense taste.

Photo curtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsquaredthefoodie/2886353002/