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Roasted Dandelion Root Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup dried dandelion root chopped
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • Red chile hot fudge sauce optional . . . but is it?

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 250°F. Roast your prepared dandelion roots until they turn your preferred shade of brown, then grind the roasted roots in a coffee bean or spice grinder. Roasting may take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the size of your dandelion root chunks and how dark you want the roast. One-half cup of chopped, roasted dandelion roots should yield about 1/4 cup of powder.
  • Heat the cream, milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan, whisking to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is fully dissolved, add dandelion powder and stir to combine. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then remove from heat, cover the pan, and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes.
  • Strain the cream and discard the solids. Be sure to press the solids against the strainer to extract as much liquid as possible. The yield should be just over 1 cup of infused cream.
  • Reheat the cream to the simmering point, and while it’s heating, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly add about 1/3 of the warm cream to the eggs, whisking constantly. This allows you to integrate the two liquids without cooking the egg. When the liquids are smoothly incorporated, add them back into the rest of the cream. Cook over medium-low heat until the liquid has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. I often have a hard time with this, because egg-based ice-cream batters seem to coat the spoon from the very beginning. To be sure, I use a candy thermometer, and when it reaches 170°F, I take the cream off the stove.
  • Strain the cream, add vanilla, and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  • Churn the chilled cream in your ice-cream maker, and if you’d like to make this a truly New Mexican dessert, top it off with some of the aforementioned red chile hot fudge sauce from The Shed!