Lavender Ice Cream

Mark: The ice cream base is adapted from an article in the New York Times, by Melissa Gilbert.

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey

6 large egg yolks
Lavender
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

1. In a small pot, simmer cream, milk, sugar, honey and salt, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
2. Add lavender to pot, let stand 15 minutes or until you can taste the lavender.
3. Strain lavender out of cream mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the 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).
5. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
6. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed.

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, outside Gordes, france