sunday supper: put the lime in the coconut

I had promised to make Mom and Gene Pernil now that I have my new All-Clad roasting pan courtesy of J-Cat on Valentine's Day. That meant that the majority of last night's Sunday Supper was nothing new to you, my dear loyal readers. But never wanting to leave you recipe-less, I did some ice cream experimenting for dessert, and was pleasantly surprised by the result. I wanted to stick with the tropical flavors, so my first thought was a simple coconut ice cream. But about 10 minutes before the ice cream was done churning, while I was sitting and worrying that the ice cream would be way too sweet, something occurred to me. Lime. Put the lime in the coconut. My answer to something being too sweet is often to add something acidic, so this seemed perfect. A touch of acid, a fresh flavor, but a nice sweetness of its own. I wasn't sure if adding it would mess with the freezing process, but it had already been churning for 20 minutes so I figured it couldn't do too much damage. I'm guessing that if I had thought of it earlier and added the lime juice and zest earlier, it would have been fine as well, next time I will try it that way and see if there is any difference. Happily, it worked well and I really loved the flavor dimension that it added. This is definitely a keeper. Recipe after the jump:



COCONUT LIME ICE CREAM
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 15 ounce can cream of coconut (preferably Coco Lopez)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
juice and zest of one lime

In a food processor or blender, combine milk and cream of coconut and process until well combined. Slowly add in the cream. Once it is blended, transfer to the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers directions. About halfway through the churning process add the lime juice, then slowly sprinkle in the zest. Avoid adding the zest in clumps so that it distributes evenly throughout the ice cream. After churning, freeze for at least two hours before serving. Makes about 2 quarts.