Tomato Ice Cream

1½ cups heavy cream

1½ cups whole milk

½ cup basil leaves

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated fine

3 egg yolks, blended

¾ cup tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced small

½ cup toasted pine nuts

· In a large saucepan combine the cream, milk, basil, sugar and bring to a simmer on medium high heat.

· Retrieve the basil and stir in the cheese.

· Temper the yolks by adding a ladleful of the hot cream mixture to them, stirring it together until well combined and returning it to the pan.

· Whisk until the cream mixture becomes thicker and coats a metal spoon then strain into large loaf pan.

· To expedite chilling, place a freezer pack in the loaf pan then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 2-3 hours.

· Process the cream mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

· When the ice cream is almost finished and still soft add the tomatoes and pine nuts.

· Serve immediately, as I love to, or transfer to a container and freeze until hard.

Note: To skin and seed tomatoes, bring a small pan of water to a boil, cut an ”x” on the stem end then drop into the pan. Wait thirty seconds until the skin starts to peel away at the “x” then drop into an ice bath for another 30 seconds. Seed the tomatoes by squeezing out the seeds and giving a quick rinse. Blot the tomato flesh dry before dicing.