Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate Stracciatella

Stracciatella refers to the melt-on-yourtongue flake-thin ribbons of chocolate that marble this ice cream. Use a good-quality chocolate – you’ll taste it.

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups cream

2 tablespoons freshly ground coffee beans ²⁄³ cup raw sugar

Pinch of salt

5 egg yolks

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur (Tia Maria is good) 100g milk or dark chocolate

Combine milk, ½ cup of the cream and the coffee beans in a medium saucepan. Heat gently until hot but not simmering then turn off heat, put the lid on and leave mixture to steep for an hour.

Pass the coffee milk through a sieve into a jug (if the grind was fine you might need to line the sieve with cheesecloth or a clean tea towel). Rinse out saucepan and return coffee mixture to it. Add sugar and salt and heat until dissolved and hot.

Lightly whisk egg yolks in a heatproof jug then slowly pour the hot coffee mixture over the yolks, whisking to prevent curdling. Pour back into the saucepan and stir over medium heat until thickened. Pour through a sieve back into the jug, add the remaining 1 cup cream and coffee liqueur. Cover surface with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly before churning in an ice cream maker.

When ice cream is nearly churned, break chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30-second bursts, stirring in between, until melted. Cool for a minute, then slowly drizzle the chocolate off the end of a spoon into the churning ice cream so it forms ribbons.

Scrape into a chilled metal or ceramic container, cover and freeze until firm. Serve with chocolate sauce if desired. Makes about 1.5 litres