Terroir Ice Cream

David Lebovitz was a pasty chef under Alice Waters, and has written a number of entertaining and informative food books. He also maintains an excellent eponymous blog.

One of his more popular books is "The Perfect Scoop," which has recipes for ice cream, gelato, sorbets, and other treats.

Today my family made his coffee ice cream. Of course, I didn't go with pre-ground. I went with PT's natural Ethiopian, just a few days off roast. A wonderful coffee! Instead of letting the coffee beans steep for an hour, as the recipe calls for, I let them steep overnight. The wild blackberry flavor absolutely came through in the ice cream. Haagen Daaz this is not. This is terroir ice cream! I thought about using a milder coffee, or a coffee past its prime. Wouldn't the cream and sugar overwhelm terroir? My results proved otherwise. 

A version of Lebovitz's recipe can be found here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/coffee_ice_cream/

It's detailed more elegantly in the book, but the above adapation has all the essentials.

I didn't use particularly good milk or cream for this recipe, nor did I use a state-of-the-art coffee maker. Quality beans were enough for a quality result.