Small-Batch Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

Sometimes a smaller household wants just enough ice cream for one dessert, without any left over to tempt you the next day.  Since the man of the house gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas, my test of the equipment was this small batch of simple vanilla ice cream.

• 1/2 C whole milk
• 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 C heavy cream
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

1.  In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk to combine milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight (can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 3 days).
2.  Turn on the ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, 15-20 minutes.  If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours (do not freeze in ice cream maker's freezer bowl).

Robyn's notes: very simple and straightforward, and I was pleased with the results.  I'm happy with the Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker (ICE-21): there's no real assembly involved, just a power button and no display, it does the job successfully.  The freezer bowl does take up quite a bit of space in our freezer, which is unfortunate, especially considering that I have a Zoku pop maker also taking up space in there, but I can accept that.  Additionally, if I want to make more than one recipe at a time (or more than one large batch), I'd need to buy additional freezer bowls or wait several hours between batches, as the freezer bowl must be completely frozen before each use.  It refroze quickly, though, was freezing up as I tried to wash it.  This simple vanilla ice cream recipe is good, it's creamy and has a good taste of vanilla, but it's not exactly what you'll get in stores (obviously).  There is a tendency to coat the tongue and the spoon with cream, so a custard-style vanilla recipe would be the way to go if you don't care for that.  Watch me demonstrate this recipe on youtube!

**** 4 Stars: Very Good. Enjoyed by us both, I will make this frequently

Spider

Generally, if someone told me there was a spider in my kitchen, my response would not be one of joy or excitement.  In our house the eight-legged kind get liberated instead of decimated (unless a cat sees them before I do), and the wire kind shown above get waved happily around like a magic wand. 

A spider is a fairly simple tool, a straight handle with a shallow wire-mesh basket at the end.  It's not a kitchen necessity by any stretch of the imagination, everything it does can be done by other tools, but it's a great addition to your kitchen and it does its jobs better than the other options.  If you're making a holiday wishlist, a spider might be a good thing to include. 

The most common use for a spider is to lift and remove food from hot water or oil.  Those of us who can and preserve can use it for moving blanched vegetables quickly from boiling to cold water.  It's also a great tool for gnocchi and any stuffed pasta, which should ideally be lifted from their cooking liquid instead of being poured into a colander.  Doing the latter can burst delicate pasta or crush gnocchi, while lifting them out individually with the spider is gentle enough to keep this from happening.  Spiders are sometimes referred to as basket skimmers, because they are very useful for skimming foam from stocks and soups.  Additional uses include fishing a bouquet garni or whole bay leaves out of a pot and deep frying foods.