VANILLA ICE CREAM

You can, of course, buy excellent ready-made ice cream. My fellow judge on Bake Off sells his truly delicious Paul Hollywood ones. But sometimes I like to make my own.

Makes 1 litre

400ml (14fl oz) whole milk 400ml (14fl oz) double cream 2 vanilla pods

8 medium egg yolks

150g (5½oz) caster sugar A pinch of salt

Put the milk and cream into a large saucepan. Split the vanilla pods in half lengthways and add them to the pan. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to allow the vanilla flavour to infuse the milk and cream.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and salt and then stir in the milk and cream mixture. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon. Don’t be impatient and turn up the heat – the custard will curdle if it boils. Once thickened to the consistency of single cream, remove from the heat and fish out the vanilla pods – but don’t discard them yet. Strain the custard into a bowl. Scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pods and add them to the custard, discarding the pods. Allow to cool to room temperature.

When cool, churn the mixture in an ice-cream maker, then transfer to a plastic container and put into the freezer until you are ready to serve. Alternatively, freeze the mixture in a shallow tray. When frozen, cut into chunks and briefly whizz it in a food processor, then immediately return to the freezer.

Transfer the ice cream from the freezer to the fridge

20-30 minutes before serving, to soften it slightly.