Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Sauce

Recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts ice cream (about 6 cups).

Pour the milk and heavy cream into a bowl. Pour half of the bowl into a saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Heat over medium heat (stirring occasionally so the milk doesn’t scald) until it’s almost boiling. Remove from the heat. Set the other half of the milk mixture aside.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Pour some (about 1/4 cup) of the hot milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Continue adding the hot milk until it’s all added. Pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly (with a wooden spoon or spatula) and scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

Pour the custard through a strainer into the bowl with the remaining cold milk mixture. Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and stir. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill completely (a few hours at least). Can be chilled for an entire day though.

Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Eat immediately for a softer ice cream, or scoop ice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze for a few hours to let it get firmer. This can stay in the freezer up to 1 month. But it won’t last that long, promise.

To make the dark chocolate sauce:

In a medium-sized saucepan (no heat yet), whisk together sugar and cocoa powder until most of the lumps are gone. Pour in the water and salt and heat over medium, stirring frequently (with a small whisk). Bring it to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes (until it thickens), stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes, then add the vanilla extract.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month. The syrup thickens as it chills, just add some water and shake the container if you want to thin it back out.