“The Malaga raisin ice cream with Pedro Ximenez is still one of the city’s best desserts.” Eater London
Double cream 600ml
Milk 300ml
Cinnamon stick 1 small
Vanilla 1 pod
Egg yolks 7
Caster sugar 85g
Raisins 100g covered with Pedro Ximénez sherry or Pedro Ximénez Malaga wine (100ml)
Serves 8 (Just over 1 litre)
Place the cream, milk and cinnamon stick in a large saucepan. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape the tiny seeds into the pan, discarding the pod. Heat until just below boiling point, then remove the pan from the stove.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is pale and thick. Loosen the egg mixture by stirring in a little of the cream and milk mixture, then pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, scraping the bowl out with a spatula. Whisk well to mix everything properly and return to a low heat, stirring constantly. Heat gently but be careful not to curdle the mixture.
When it thickens and just before it bubbles, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and place over ice water to cool. Churn in an ice-cream machine, in batches if necessary, adding the raisins and sherry towards the end of the churning. (For those without an ice-cream machine, you can freeze the ice cream by hand, but remember to stir every half an hour to prevent ice crystals forming. Stirring will also help to distribute the raisins evenly as they tend to sink to the bottom before the ice cream is hard enough to suspend them.)
The churning process will take about 2 hours, depending on the temperature of your freezer or the specification of your ice-cream maker.
Serve the ice cream with a chilled glass of Pedro Ximénez on the side or poured over the top.
Note: although this is a very simple recipe (using a basic custard for the ice cream) complexity and flavour is provided by the sherry. The raisins are soaked in Pedro Ximénez sherry, a treacly, sweet, raisiny sherry made from Pedro Ximénez grapes, that have been first dried in the sun to concentrate their sugar and taste.
This recipe is from Moro: The Cookbook