I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream - Almond ice cream

How lovely it is to be blogging this recipe, sat outside, with a beer, not a cloud in the sky. It's the weather I crave the most because it is definitively Summer; no in between, no half measures; no warm rain. And it has been like this for days and days really. This could be our Summer, and I hope it's around for weeks and weeks and weeksuntil at least September, when I suppose I will have to accept that rain and cloud and all that non descriptive stuff is the ying to a good Summer's yang.

So, ice cream. I grew up with Walls. Yes, it's a shame. When I first made some ice cream it was a revelation, and though there isn't much reason to whip up a batch to temper the searing heat on a Summer's Day round here, I do every now and then like to make some to go with a pudding if we are having people around but it's not he same as making it and eating it outside on a hot day.

If custard makes you nervous, then this recipe is so easy and does not involve the temperamental nature of egg yolks. It's basically almond infused cream, churned in an ice cream maker ideally and eaten on its own. It freezes quite hard but melts quite quickly, the sign of good and proper ice cream. The original recipe is from my favourite Spanish cookbook at the moment, Modern Spanish Cooking, by Sam and Eddie Hart and the only changes I have made is to replace the water with cream, and add a little salt to the mixture. It is simply joyous to eat. I hope you have the weather we're having here at the moment to give you excuse to make some.

Almond Ice Cream, adapted from 'Modern Spanish Cooking' by Sam and Eddie Hart

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad, and several of Lola and Finn's friends

Ingredients:

200g blanched almonds (I splashed out on Marcona ones!)

600ml milk

150g sugar

200ml cream

pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c and spread out the nuts on a baking tray. Toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes, turning once or twice.

Put the milk, cream, sugar, almonds and a pinch of salt into a saucepan and put onto the heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to the boil and and then take off the heat and allow it to cool completely. 

Take the cooled mixture and blitz it in a blender, or you could sieve the mixture into a bowl then blitz the almonds in a mini chopper. Either way, you need to sieve the almonds out of the milk and blitz some of the almonds, in preparation for adding some of them to the ice cream mixture.

Take the almondy milk and pour it into the churn of an ice cream maker. Add about 50g of the blitzed almond mixture. Churn until the milk has started to thicken and congeal perceptibly. It took about 45 minutes in my machine.

Once churned, transfer the semi frozen mixture to a suitable container and put in the freezer. Leave for at least eight hours, and preferably overnight.

To serve. Take the ice cream out a couple of minutes before you wish to serve it so you can scoop it properly. Serving suggestion: Outside. Definitely outside!