Pumpkin pie may not need a topping, but a scoop of ice cream never hurts. In our house, that ice cream was always homemade, at least since the 1980s, when we were the first family on the block in Brooklyn to buy an ice-cream maker. It was huge and ungainly, a heavy, self-refrigerating unit imported from Italy and lugged home from Zabar’s.
We made ice cream for every occasion. There was olive-oil ice cream for Hanukkah and red-wine sorbet for Passover, gazpacho granita for Labor Day and Champagne gelato for New Year’s Eve.
For Thanksgiving, we’d usually go for something heady and autumnal to echo the flavors of pumpkin pie: cinnamon, nutmeg or chai spice. But ginger was the one I like best. I adore the razor-sharp purity of its flavor, which we got from steeping vast quantities of sliced ginger root into heavy cream.
This version is slightly different from other ginger ice creams I’ve made. While the ginger dominates, there’s also a touch of cinnamon and clove, which gives the ice cream a heady depth. Bits of candied ginger add chewy pockets of brightness to the smooth cream. Even better, made with an egg-yolk-thickened custard, this ice cream is particularly silky, melting over your pie slice into a puddle of spicy crème anglaise.
Is it unnecessary? Absolutely. But it’s a bit of Thanksgiving excess I’d never want to do without.
Cooking tips: Ice cream
* You can make this ice cream up to a week ahead. After that, it will start to develop ice crystals.
* If your ice cream does develop ice crystals, let it melt, then refreeze the custard in your ice cream maker. That will help smooth it out.
* To make scooping the ice cream easier, take it out of the freezer 20 minutes before you plan to serve it. Or take it out an hour before and let it soften slightly in the refrigerator.
* Extra chopped candied ginger makes an excellent garnish.
Ginger Ice Cream
Yield: 1 generous pint
Total time: 25 minutes, plus several hours’ chilling and churning
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 whole clove
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup candied ginger, finely chopped, plus more for garnish if you’d like
In a medium pot, combine cream, milk, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, clove and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cover, remove from heat, and let steep for 1 hour.
In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the cream into the yolks, then whisk yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat, and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer).
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions, adding the candied ginger during the last few seconds of churning. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Serve topped with extra candied ginger if desired.