Lemons and Globes

For those of you who know me personally, you have probably had a conversation with me that has inevatibly turned to food, and possibly the famous lemon icecream!

I have become an avid follower of Smitten Kitchen, a fabulous foody blog. And as a fan of all things lemony (I must post my lemon chicken recipe) I had to try this. It is currently cooling in the kitchen. The filling is already a hit with my eldest son, as I had to much mixture for my pastry shell and put the excess in a ramekin dish to cook, that taster is now no more.

The other thing that my friends know about me is that I am a Charity shop frequenter. Love those bargains! And not only that, but the randomness of what one might find. I have been thinking about buying a globe for years, mainly so I could show the children various places in the world, so that they could have a better idea of where countries are and to have a 'global' world view. Well, I finally found one today, not as big as the ones I had been looking at, in fact, just perfect for our already cluttered home. I love it. I have already shown Luke where Haiti is (I had to look it up on Google Maps myelf first!)

Now, who would like to try the easy peasy, lemon squeezy icecream? It is based on one that Nigella Lawson does, I am not sure which book it is available in, I have also seen her do variations on it. Beware, it is thoroughly addictive, and when you start you can't stop. I gave this recipe to a friend and I think she makes it once a week!

You will need...
3 juicy lemons, preferably unwaxed
175g/6oz icing sugar
420ml double cream (or whole tub)
3 tablespoons iced water
Then...

Grate the zest from two of the lemons using a microplane grater (I don't have one of these, so I use an ordinary fine grater, and am careful not to grate too deep). Squeeze the juice of all three lemons and pour into a bowl with the zest and sugar, stir to combine and leave for 30 minutes, if you can, to let the flavour deepen.

Whip the cream with the water until it holds soft peaks, then whisk in the sweetened lemon juice. Turn into a shallow container, cover and freeze - no stirring, crystal-breaking-up mixing or anything needed - until firm. This could take anything from 3-6 hours depending on your freezer.

Let it stand in its container in the fridge for half an hour or so to get scoop-ready.

Enjoy!