This recipe is adapted from David Lebovitz and Emily Luchetti. Spearmint is growing like weeds in my garden but they are still very expensive at the store. I think it is not worth it if you have to buy mint from the store. Spearmint is easy to grow. If you live in town, I have plenty to share. I used dark chocolate (53 %) from Winco. Emily uses 8 oz chocolate and chopped it with a food processor for chocolate chunky lover. However, Anne Walker's only uses 3 oz of high quality bittersweet chocolate (about 60% of cacao)
1 cup whole milk
2 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar (3/4 cup sugar in original recipe)
2 cups packed fresh mint leaves, washed and drained well
5 large egg yolks
5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
A few drops of Blue or Green color (optional)
Heat milk, 1/2 cup sugar, heavy cream, and mint in a medium heavy pan (2.5-3 quarts) over medium high heat, stir occasionally until almost simmering. Remove from heat, cover and let the mint steep for an hour. Strain the mixture into a bowl with a sieve. Press the mint against the sieve or squeeze them with a cleaned hand (if they are not too hot ) to extract as much flavor and color as possible. Discard the mint.
Reheat the cream mixture over medium heat. While the cream is heating, place egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a mixing bowl. Beating egg on high until slightly thickened and lemon color. Slowly pour hot cream into beaten egg yolks, whisk constantly while pouring. Return the mixture back into the saucepan,.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a silicon/wood spatula, until it reaches 170-175 oF and slightly coats the spatula about 1 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain the mixture into a stainless bowl. Cool in an ice-water bath to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Stir in food color if used. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.
Melt chocolate over simmering water stir until smooth, set aside. Put a container in a freeze. Churn ice cream base in a ice cream machine following the manufacturer's instruction. When the ice cream ready, dribble some melt chocolate at the bottom of container.Place a layer of ice cream atop chocolate and dribble with more chocolate. Make a quick stirring to break chocolate into small pieces. Repeat with another layer of ice cream and chocolate, stirring.
Cover, then place in the freezer for several hours until firm/scoopable before serving.
* Notes: The amount of fresh mint and time of infusing vary from one to other. 2 cups of mint steep in hot cream for 1 hour is the max in David's recipe produce an beautiful intense mint flavor but my daughter thinks it was too strong. Emily and Anne use less mint in shorter infused time. I sure to try next time.
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