Friday, April 11, 2008

Nigella Lawson's No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream



I looooooove Nigella. Apart from my pistachio macarons disaster, all the recipes I've tried from her books have worked like a charm. Be it Pasta alla Vodka, Store-cupboard Chocolate and Orange Cake, Cranberry Upside-down Cake, Upside-down Red Onion Supper Pie, Chocolate-Cherry Cupcakes, Pan-fried Halloumi with Chilli Drizzle, Raw Beetroot Salad with Dill and Mustard Seeds, her Rum-Soaked Banana Bread, her cheeky Cheesy Feet, Rosemary Loaf Cake, or her Lemon and Parmesan Linguini - you name it, I love it. Her effortless and luscious style of cooking, and easy, yet decadent choice of recipes appeals as well. So when my friend Ruxandra recently offered to send me her extra copy of Nigella Express, of course I said yes.

Within a fortnight I had tried quite a number of recipes from the book. I've already shared her Cider and Mustard Pork Chops with you; I've also tried and enjoyed her recipes for Hokey Pokey, and Grilled Duck Breasts with Pomegranate Seeds. And then there was this beautiful, beautiful no-churn ice cream recipe. The fact that it's no-churn is neither here or there for me - I've got a Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment, so I'm ok with traditional churning ice creams. However, I'm also very keen on pomegranates and have been able to source some extremely sweet and juicy and delectable pomegranates at my local supermarket recently, so I was keen to try this. And Nigella - it was absolutely delicious again!

I've changed the quantitites to fit local conditions (cream is sold in 200 ml tubs here, as opposed to 240 ml tubs in the UK, so I've downsized that bit); also I used 35% whipping cream instead of 48% double cream suggested in the original recipe. And because my pomegranates were so sweet, I reduced the amount of sugar - you may want to stick with the original

Nigella Lawson's No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream
(Nigella granaatõunajäätis)
Serves 6-8



2 pomegranates
1 lime
150 g icing sugar/powdered sugar
400 ml whipping cream

Halve the pomegranates (reserve some pomegranate seeds for garnish) and the lime, juice them and strain the juices into a bowl. You'll need just under 200 ml of pomegranate juice*.
Add the icing sugar and whisk to dissolve.
Whisk in the whipping cream, and keep whisking until soft peaks form.
Spoon and smooth the ice cream into a rigid plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. Place into a freezer for at least four hours or overnight.
To serve, let the ice cream soften for 5-10 minutes, then scoop into nice bowls (I used my Iittala glass bowls), scatter with pomegranate seeds and enjoy.

* You can use a good-quality pomegranate juice instead, but I doubt it'll be as tart-sweet as freshly squeezed juice.

27 comments:

Andreea said...

i love nigella.
and i love your iittala glass :)

Karolina Beaudet said...

I love the picture of the ice cream; they must taste delightful!!! I've been watching Nigella Express recently on tv, wonderful show!!!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Believe it or not, I've never tried a Nigella recipe and don't own a single one of her cookbooks. Clearly it's time I started delving into her wonderful collection of recipes.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

i love nigella too but amazingly i do not have any of her books!!! pille this looks great though and so easy to make.

angie said...

I just discovered your blog thanks to lobstersquad and the fact that I live in Mad as well. LOOOVE your header!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Finally! A recipe that does not require an ice-cream maker. Hugs to you and Nigella!

Gloria Baker said...

pille, looks delicious!!! I love Nigella too is so nice and good recipes!!! your look wonderful! Gloria

Wendy said...

Hoorah! An ice-cream that doesn't involve a machine. And using pomegranates too. Such a pretty colour.
Love the Ittala glasses. I miss Finnish glass.

Anonymous said...

Lovely ice-cream. And how exciting that there is a Kitchen Aid ice-cream attachement! I've had my kitchen aid for a while but am yet to get into the heady world of attachments...

Even though I got all annoyed at Nigella Express because of all the overpackaged, pre-prepared environmentally unfriendly goings on in it, I do think that her recipes are very good and rarely turn out badly.

We really like the quick chilli recipe from Express - it tastes like something you've left simmering for hours on end!

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Mmm, sounds good! I've never had pomegranate ice cream before, but this looks worth a try.

ChichaJo said...

That ice cream looks divine! And no churning??? Perfect for me who still has not gotten an ice cream maker! :)

I like Nigella too :)

Unknown said...

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Best recipe/video gets $100 or a year subscription to Netflix!

Cheers,
Jessa Lowell
Zaazz.tv

Anonymous said...

yay! To no churn ice cream : )

Patricia Scarpin said...

I have never cooked nor baked with pomegranates, Pille, and this ice cream looks like the ideal way to start.
I also love Nigella - not to mention the woman looks dazzling!

Dagmar said...

Pille, the ice cream looks amazing and the photo is lovely.

Nigella Express is on Swedish TV since Monday, so I'm watching it every evening.

Nina Timm said...

What a beautiful color on that ice-cream. Tried pomegranates on many things, but never ice-cream.

K Allrich said...

How tempting & gorgeous is that? I'd love to try it- subbing the cream (allergic to dairy). Just might try hemp milk (it's worked in smoothies).

Anonymous said...

This looks great. We have an ice cream maker, but it makes a lot of noise so I often make no-churn ice creams. And anything with pomegranate is good!

Jeanne said...

OMG, can that be easier?! And how beautiful it looks! I am definitely going to look out for pomegranates and try this - both for the looks and the taste :)

Pille said...

Andreea – iittala makes gorgeous glasses. And I just got another four for birthday :)

Karolcia – I’ve never seen a single full episode of any of Nigella’s shows, but I’m quite happy with just books..

Lydia – well, they’re worth looking into. At least I’ve benefited from her books a lot..

Meeta – it was a doddle indeed!

Angie – I’m glad you found your way here – welcome!!

Susan – well, it was nice to have a non-ice-cream-maker-ice-cream-recipe, but I quite love my KitchenAid ice cream attachment, I must admit..

Wendy – it was a gorgeous sherbet pink! (And yes, Finnish glass rules :)

Sophie – I’ve got just a few – the food grinder and ice cream machine – but I’ve used both quite a lot. I need to look into that chilli recipe!

Aforkfulofspaghetti – it was delicious!

ChichaJo – no churning indeed :)

David – well, your churn ice creams rock, too :)

Patricia – Nigella seems to be into pomegranates big time - must be the fact that they look like precious stones, no? I’ve tried two recipes with pomegranate already, and there are more..

Dagmar – lucky you!

Nina – it was my first time to make pomegranate ice cream, too. Until now I’ve mostly used them as garnish for various puddings..

Karina – hope the hemp milk version works for you – I’ve never even tasted that, however..

Fearless Kitchen – is the machine supposed to make so much noise?

Jeanne – oh, please do. But do try to find juicy ripe fresh pomegranates – I doubt it’ll look as gorgeous when you use bottled juice instead..

Gloria and Jessa – thank you!

Naomi Devlin said...

Beautiful ice-cream, such a perfect pink! You can also eat this as a syllabub with a little rosewater and rose schnapps.

x x x

Brilynn said...

I've seen this floating around the blogs for ages now and have FINALLY just made it and am waiting for it to freeze. Mmmm pomegranate!

Michele said...

I used store-bought juice for this recipe, but it wasn't as pink as your picture shows. How did you juice your pomegranates? Is the juice more red when you use fresh ones?

Pille said...

Naomi - thanks for the syllabub tip!!

Brilynn - how did you like it?

Michele - fresh is always best! I simply cut pomegranates into two halves and then used a citrus press to juice them. And yes, I had very red pomegranates (I've also seen rather pale specimens, which obviously wouldn't give such a gorgeous sherbet coloured ice cream).

Agnieszka said...

Pille, thanks a lot for sharing with us this ice cream recipe. It is really wonderful. I made my version using ice cream machine and a little bit of pomegranate molasses and voilá: http://www.kuchnianadatlantykiem.com/2009/09/lody-z-raju.html
Your blog is amazing.

Sandra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sandra said...

I made Nigella's pomegranate ice-cream last night for the first time, and it has turned out great!
I was wondering, do you think it would work with other fruit juices?