Fresh fig ice cream

The word for fig in Spanish is figue. It’s not difficult, but it is important should you ever find yourself in Salta, in the North-West of Argentina. Sure, we went to Salta to see the bizarre desert landscape and to sample the wines of Cafayate but what really sticks in my memory of that trip is their ice cream shop. One hot afternoon, after climbing to a scenic lookout on the top of a very tall hill we realised two things. The first was that most tourists came up in a cable car that we hadn’t noticed in our dash for the stairs. The second was that those people who had beaten us up by going the lazy way, had also eaten all of the ice creams in the hilltop cafe. Despondent, we tramped back down the hill and into the town. Wandering through the maze of streets back to our hotel, we came across a queue of locals. It was a Sunday so these people couldn’t be queuing for a bank or government office as we commonly saw in South America. No. These people were queuing for ice cream. Fabulous ice cream. Our basic Spanish was challenged somewhat by the complex ordering system but we got by with our usual hand gestures, smiling and nodding. Naturally we came out with ice cream flavours that neither of us had chosen. But on this serendipitous day, my travel buddy was given figue. It was so good, we had to go back the next day.
This is not the fig ice cream from Salta. I barely had the Spanish for ordering, I could hardly ask for the recipe. But fig season is in full swing here in Melbourne and the neighbour’s trees are heavy with fruit. I’ve had a good hunt around but can’t find quite the flavour combination I wanted. So this recipe is an amalgam of a number of recipes and is, I think, very close to perfect.

Fresh Fig Ice cream
Makes about a litre

300g ( ~ 1/2 pound) black figs
1/4 cup sugar
50 ml (~ 2 fluid oz) Cointreau

2 free range egg yolks ( don’t forget to freeze the egg whites for another day)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 cardamom pods
3/4 cup cream

1. Cut the figs into small pieces, then combine with 1/4 cup sugar and the Cointreau in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil with the lid on, then remove the cover and allow to simmer for 5 -10 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick and jam-like. Set aside to cool.

2. In a separate saucepan, combine the milk and the cardamom pods. Allow to simmer while preparing the custard base.

3. In a stainless steel bowl ( or double boiler) whisk the egg yolks and the other 1/4 cup of sugar until pale (3-5 minutes). Slowly add the warm milk, while whisking continuously until combined.
4. Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and continue to whisk until the custard becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (10 minutes or so)
5. At this point it’s usually a good idea to pass the custard through a sieve, to catch the cardamom pods (as well as any little bits of scrambled egg if you have got distracted in your whisking.)
6. Combine custard and figs and lastly, fold in the cream. Allow the mixture to cool, covered, in the fridge for at least three hours.
7. Churn mixture in ice cream maker. At this stage, the ice cream will be at soft serve consistency. To firm things up a little more, return churned ice cream to the freezer for a couple of hours before eating.