Some recipes sound so bizarre that they just have to be tried. I discovered one of my all time favorite summer salads that way, Nigella’s Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should, it’s delicious. But this week the recipe at hand was Olive Oil Ice Cream. Sounds weird right? I though so too, and that’s why I wanted to try it.
Dorie recommends a flavorful and fruity olive oil for this ice cream and I was fairly careful in picking one out. The right olive oil seemed like a make or break it ingredient here, so I decided not to scrimp. Nevertheless, as I poured it into the custard, I had some serious doubts, it just didn’t seem right. Not just that, but it turned my custard a rather unappetizing color. We were not off to a great start.
As my custard cooled I checked Dorie’s serving recommendations and also pulled out The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Both recommended chocolate sauce. Who am I to argue with chocolate sauce! So I flipped through the Fundamentals & Flourishes chapter of Dorie’s book and found her Hot Fudge Sauce recipe. I then also decided to add a little green food coloring to my custard as it was churning away in the ice cream maker. Just enough to turn it a pretty pale green color. Things were starting to look up.
In fact, my ice cream looked downright mouth-watering topped with Dorie’s hot fudge sauce (I really need to buy a new camera). And, more importantly, it tasted pretty darn good. Very good in fact. And yet, alone, without the hot fudge sauce, it was not my favorite ice cream. And if ice cream needs hot fudge sauce in order to be good, well, it’s probably not a recipe which needs to be repeated. Oh well, I’m happy that I tried it.
Before signing off I just want to say a big thanks to my fellow French Friday with Dorie cooks for all of their support. Last week was not the best one for me and I really appreciated all of your kind words. This week was better, though still photo-less. I’m sure next week will be even better.
one expat's life 
I’ve already told Matt that an ice cream machine is the first thing I’m buying when we move back to the states. He rolled his eyes and laughed. I interpret that as a binding contract. haha! So, three years from now, I’ll be able to give this recipe a whirl. I’m curious to taste it, b/c I just can’t wrap my brain around it. Good thing that the chocolate sauce made it something worth eating, or else it would have been a huge waste of some lovely olive oil. Glad you feel a bit better this week. My parents’ house was robbed when my mom was pregnant with me, and it still upsets her when she talks about it.
I’m happy you loved the ice cream, Rose. Sometimes the smallest flourishes (to borrow from Dorie), like a drop of food coloring, can enhance so much. I’ve tried Dorie’s chocolate sauces and they are big winners in my book.
Aw, I’m glad things are looking up! I didn’t make the ice creab because I don’t have a machine (other than the old-fashioned one), and I just didn’t get around to buying one. Happy that you tried it though! That hot fudge sauce sounds great too!!! Have a wonderful weekend!
Chocolate is the one thing I have yet to try with this one but I know it will be incredible. Something about this one comes alive when combined with other things. I actually used a very peppery oil and it was fantastic and really set up the oil and salt drizzle I tried with it.
The Perfect Scoop has to be one of the best ice cream books. Ever.
I hope things are going better 🙂
I’m going to have to try Dorie’s chocolate sauce. Hope life is easing up for you. Take care.
Chocolate makes everything turn out well. Tricia shared some of her ice cream with us and today
I drizzled some chocolate sauce on it. Very delicious. Hope things are going better for your
family this week and will continue to improve.
Oh I wish I could see a picture – sounds so pretty. I am glad many enjoyed this one. Clearly I need to read the instructions better as I have no recollection of the chocolate sauce mention :(((
I thought this ice cream went perfectly with chocolate as well, but we also liked it by itself. It was such a surprise hit. I hope you have a great weekend.
I was thinking about you this week and hoping that you were feeling better, now I read that you made the olive oil ice cream with a chocolate sauce, sounds like you feel a tad better…that is nice! Glad you liked the ice cream ! And the photos – well, they can be taken some other time…
Hope you are going to have a good week! Take care!
Such a trooper you are Rose, in spite of your past week. Good for you! I like the idea of a green hue and the chocolate. Maybe chopped pistachios on top would close the deal! Have a great weekend
I was so behind this week that I only read your post about last week’s bad news now. So so sorry. My cameras and my photos are precious to me and don’t even get me started on folks being in my house. Ironically, my hubby was up checking on our vacation home last week and IT got robbed also. Weird thing ? With all the stuff in our house – food, booze, electronics and even a few snowmobiles sitting in the drive…..they broke a window, use the toilet and then took a cheap gas grill from our deck. Needless to say, could have been worse but still feels yucky to know they were there. Cooking gets us back to real life and this week’s inspiration to prepare more ice cream was a soothing recipe for all. Since who knew such a combo would actually taste good (sorry, Dorie- but we were skeptics…..) Here’s to a wonderful summer of new cameras, new grilles,good recipes and good adventures.
I”m glad things are getting better. I say any excuse for hot fudge sauce, myself – it’s too bad the ice cream itself didn’t measure up for you.
I finally made this last week and it was a great accompaniment for the Gâteau Basque.
I can’t think of anything that hot fudge sauce wouldn’t make better 🙂 Sorry you weren’t that impressed by the ice cream. Definitely worth trying, though. Thanks for the link to the Nigella salad, I’m looking forward to trying it this summer.
I felt the same way you did when I first heard the name of this ice cream! It came out so creamy and delicious! I didn’t even invest in another olive oil…the extra virgin I had in the cabinet was what I used…It worked perfectly! Your chocolate sauce sounds like such a perfect accompaniment for this ice cream! Yummy!!
Oh, I want to see a picture of that ice cream, Rose, it sounded as if it was kinda mint-chipy looking. You sounded better this week. This will never be a good memory but as the days pass and your things are replaced, it will, hopefully, be a fading memory. Your Nigella salad sound like something I should try for my SUMMER=SALADS series. I don’t particularlly love watermelon but this combo seems interesting and wierd. Sorta like me, I guess.
I was starting to think I was the only one that wasn’t in love with this ice cream. To me, it was interesting, but not amazing. I used salted caramel sauce on top (I didn’t have hot fudge), and it helped, but definitely not my favorite.
Hot fudge sauce on this icecream would have been sensational!