Sweet potato ice cream

This tasty batch of ice cream came about as the result of a happy synchronicity: on the same day, last week, that I ran around the Greenmarket before work picking out whatever veggies looked especially tasty (a journey that led to Ali's wonderful tart), I discovered that our ice cream maker's bowl was, once again, frozen and ready to go. Just an hour later, we were having our first taste of this ice cream, made from a single sweet potato and a few spices.

The recipe is an adaptation of a David Lebovitz recipe, but I suggest you simply use your instincts when spicing the mix.

SWEET POTATO ICE CREAM

Time: 15 minutes active, 40-45 minutes inactive

1-2 sweet potatoes
12 oz whole milk
2-3 tbs butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Quarter the sweet potato. Microwave for five or six minutes. Remove from microwave, and butter the sweet potato as best you can with about a third of the butter. Microwave for another eight or so, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and mashable.
2. Scoop the potato into a bowl, and mash in the rest of the butter. Put the buttered, mashed potatoes in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Purée until fine. Add more milk if mix is too thick.
3. Cool in your fridge or freezer for 20-30 minutes, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the instructions.

Yield: 4-5 servings

Peanut butter and jelly ice cream

The last of a series of apartment-warming gifts from friends and relatives was an ice cream maker from Ali's thoughtful aunt and uncle in Columbus – the perfect addition to our little kitchen as the oppressive summer months approach. I broke in the machine by making something extremely simple: peanut butter and jelly ice cream. The recipe, adapted from the fantastic Kitchen Chick, is a mixture of local, organic, and mass-produced, processed foods. Both of us, for example, hate organic or natural peanut butters, and prefer Jif Extra Crunchy. Feel free to use whichever you prefer (though, as Kitchen Chick points out, the results are best with Jif). The quality of the cream and milk, on the other hand, will make a huge difference, so try and find a high-quality, locally farmed product. We use Ronnybrook Farms, which is in Ancramdale, NY.


PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY ICE CREAM

1 cup Jif Extra Crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 - 1/3 cups heavy cream
3 tbs Hero raspberry preserve
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, combine the peanut butter and sugar. Stir until smooth.
2. Add milk. In a blender, blend on low speed until it's smooth. Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla.
3. Put it in your ice cream maker and let it go until it's thickened. Remove a bit at a time, placing in a container you can seal, and layer with raspberry preserve.
4. Seal the container, and put it in your freezer for a few hours.

Yield: 6 servings