Though the ice cream is fantastic on its own, chef and cookbook author John McReynolds of Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyard and Winery in Sonoma, California, turns it into a sophisticated dessert with the addition of caramelized walnuts and a drizzle of saba—ripe wine-grape juice cooked down to a fruity syrup. He makes his own saba each autumn, but you can buy saba at gourmet grocery stores (or substitute good-quality balsamic vinegar).
Ingredients
- ICE CREAM
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 1/3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Pinch kosher salt
- 6 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup crème fraîche
- WALNUTS AND SERVING
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel sea salt
- 1 cup mixed walnut halves and pieces
- 6 teaspoons saba* or cask-aged balsamic vinegar
How to Make It
Step 1
Make ice cream: Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds. Put seeds in a small saucepan with milk, sugar, and salt. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring often, until small bubbles form around edge, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 30 minutes.
Step 2
Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly pour in milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until custard coats a metal spoon and a finger pulled across custard on spoon leaves a path, 5 to 8 minutes.
Step 3
Remove from heat and whisk in cream and crème fraîche. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Set bowl in a bowl of ice and a little water until cold.
Step 4
Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm enough to scoop, at least 3 hours.
Step 5
Make walnuts: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add sugar, butter, salt, and walnuts and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir constantly as sugar melts, turns golden brown, and coats each nut evenly, about 10 minutes. Pour nuts onto lined baking sheet. Let cool, then roughly chop.
Step 6
Scoop ice cream into bowls. Drizzle with saba and sprinkle with nuts.
Step 7
*Find at gourmet grocery stores and online.
Step 8
Make ahead: The ice cream, up to 3 days, frozen; and nuts up to 1 day, stored airtight.