Minty Mint-Chocolate Ice Cream

Yields about 1 quart of ice cream.

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup heavy cream, salt, and mint. Once the mixture is hot and steaming, remove from heat, cover the pan and let the mixture stand for around an hour so the mint flavor gets infused.

Pour the mixture into a bowl through a strainer (to remove the mint), then press down on the mint with a spatula or your hands to extract as much mint flavor and color as possible. Once the liquid is squeezed out, discard the mint.

Now pour the remaining heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer over the top. Prepare a larger bowl by filling it with some ice to use as an ice bath—you’ll need it in a few minutes.

Rewarm the infused milk in the same saucepan but not to a boil.

In another separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then add a little warmed (a cup or so) mint infused milk. Stir and then pour the mint mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining infused milk.

Cook the custard on medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spatula. It’s done when you run your finger over the spatula and it leaves a mark that shouldn’t flow back.

Immediately strain the mixture into the other bowl of cream, then put the bowl into the ice bath and stir until cool.

Cover the mixture and refrigerate it thoroughly for a few hours or preferably overnight. Then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

While the mixture is churning in the ice cream maker, melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure the bowl you use for melting the chocolate doesn’t touch the simmering water and remains completely dry as even few drops of water will harden the chocolate. Keep stirring the chocolate until it melts.

When the ice cream in the machine is ready, turn off the machine. Drizzle some of the chocolate into a (at least quart size, so all the ice cream fits) freezer safe container, then add a layer of the ice cream into the container. Drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the ice cream, then quickly stir it in, breaking up the chocolate into irregular pieces. Continue layering in the ice cream and drizzling in more chocolate and stirring as you go.

When finished, cover it tightly and freeze until firm. Freeze at least 2-3 hours before serving to get hard ice cream or have it soft serve style immediately.

Adapted from David Lebovitz.