Creme de la Creme

I know I’ve been pretty low-key for what, two months now? And originally, back at the end of school and prelude to July I did plan to do some heavy-duty blogging, cooking, and photographing. The latter twosome I did, somewhat, fulfill. As for the former…well, I do apologize and I do intend to make up for our lost time together by starting with this post.

I’m not saying that this one post is going to bring world peace, not that it can’t, because it shuns dairy completely, but I do intend to bring a smile to your sad little faces (yes some of us will have to kiss vay-cay goodbye for the time-being) with some peaches and cream.

Corn.

As for me, yes, me again, I tend to get to know the roots and culture of any given region through three things. Method number one, most common, most logical, would be to phone up any long-lost relatives who live there, then convince that I didn’t really lose contact with them for four years then hop along with them to their local corners n’ cracks. Method number two, I ditch all my plans and just go for it. I mean, put on a neon t-shirt, running shorts, and lace up my nikes doin’ ’em up tight and just go. I find, after running a route twice, I memorize its map. Try it, it’ll help you stay fit on those road trips.

Lastly, and most intuitive of all, eat. Yes, use your mouth (and your brain just a tad). Eat whatever springs from the land, the earth. Be a foreign locavore, sure it’s a thing (oxymoron).

So you can guess my reaction when I landed myself in the Waterloo airport, and on the way to my new home drove past, I don’t know, corn field bordered by my oh my, more rows of corn.

Exactly, when you have late-summer sweet corn, you do like me: make sweet corn gelato.

Ingredients for the sweet corn gelato:

3 ears fresh corn kernels

2 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut beverage (not canned, I used Organic “So Delicious”)

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

3 free range egg yolks

1 scant cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatin

1/2 cup coconut cream, chilled

1 tbsp malibu liqueur, optional but I recommend with the most intense pressure legal

To make the gelato, put the corn, coconut beverge, and salt in the blender and blend on the highest speed until as smooth as possible. I used a Vitamix so I blended it until it started to steam. If you’re on a regular blender, just pour the mixture into a pan and bring to scalding temperature.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sugar. (Don’t worry, the sugar is indeed much more than the yolks if you’re concerned it seems too dry.) Temper in the hot corn mixture, whisking constantly until smooth, then return the entire mixture back into the pan. Sprinkle on the gelatin, and cook on medium heat until the gelatin dissolves and the custard thickens slightly (78°C).

Strain the custard into a clean bowl and chill in the refrigerator until cold. Meanwhile, line a square baking pan with foil extending beyond the sides. Pour the cold custard into the prepared pan, reserving about 1/2 cup. Freeze the panful of custard and chill the remaining 1/2 cup.

Unmold the frozen custard and cut into 16 squares. In a food processor or your Vitamix, puree the frozen squares with the reserved chilled custard, coconut cream, and malibu until smooth like soft-serve ice cream. Scrape into a metal loaf pan and freeze until firm.

To serve, simply leave the ice cream at room temperature for 3 to 5 minutes for the best consistency – like haagen dazs…except healthier!