Red Cabbage Gazpacho with Grain Mustard Ice Cream

The colorful red cabbage sour soup served at the table with mustard ice cream is a great refreshing starter adapted from Chef Heston Blumenthal. The intense flavors in this dish pair wonderfully with each other. I am not a fan of red cabbage but in this dish it works well with the red wine vinegar, fresh cucumbers and mustard ice cream.

Chef Heston Blumenthal mastered the science of ice cream and is known for introducing savory ice cream flavors to his menu at The Fat Duck restaurant in UK. His ice creams tend to have less fat and sugar than traditional recipes to maximize the flavor release and minimize the sweetness when used in savory dishes like this one. So get your ice cream maker and enjoy!

Ingredients

About 6 servings.

Grain mustard ice cream

- 45g egg yolks (about 3 large egg yolks)

- 20g unrefined caster sugar

- 250g whole milk

- 12g skimmed milk powder

- 35g grain mustard

- 0.7g ice cream stabilizer

Red cabbage gazpacho

- 250g red cabbage juice (1 or 2 cabbages, remove core before juicing to prevent bitterness)

- 1 slice white sandwich bread

- 30g red wine vinegar

- 8g table salt

- 18g mayonnaise

- 2g dijon mustard

Cucumber brunoise

- 200g cucumber

Preparation

Grain Mustard Ice Cream

1- Whisk egg yolks and sugar for 5 minutes in a bowl. Reserve.

2- Mix the no-fat milk powder with the ice scream stabilizer to help with dispersion.

3- Heat the milk with no-fat milk powder / ice cream stabilizer in a pot to 82 °C (180 °F) to ensure hydration of the stabilizer. Put aside and let the temperature drop to 60 °C (140 °F).

TIP: The ChefAlarm thermometer is great for this. It easily attaches to the pot with the clip and you can set a High and Low temperature alarms so you are free to work on something else without worrying about going above or below the desired temperature.

4- Slowly pour the heated milk over the egg yolk mix while stirring.

5- Return the new mixture to the pot and heat to 70 °C (160 °F) to cook and pasteurize the egg yolks. Maintain the mixture at this temperature for 20 minutes. Stir constantly. It is very important not to go over this temperature or your eggs will start coagulating and the resulting ice cream will have a stronger egg flavor.  If you have a Sous Vide immersion circulator, you can place the contents in a sealed bag and heat it in a bath set at 70 °C (160 °F) for 20 minutes.

6- Cool the mixture in an ice bath.

7- Stir in the mustard.

8- Refrigerate overnight. We are aging the ice cream base to obtain a more stable foam during the churning process.

9- Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and follow the instructions of your equipment. If your ice cream maker permits, cool it to -5C (23 F). You can always use the dry ice method to obtain great quality ice cream at home. Store in the freezer to harden until serving time.

Red Cabbage Gazpacho

1- Place red cabbage juice in a container with the slice of bread and store in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

2- Strain the juice using a fine sieve and using a spatula press the bread to remove all the juice.

3- Blend the juice with the rest of the ingredients.

4- Strain the red cabbage gazpacho into a clean container and refrigerate until serving time.

Cucumber brunoise

1- Slice the cucumber using a mandolin, 2mm thick.

2- Remove the skin and the seeds.

3- Cut the cucumber into 2mm squares.

Assemble and Serve

1- At the center of a small deep plate or bowl, place a small spoon of cucumber brunoise and spread it a little bit to create a good base for the ice cream.

2- Place a small scoop or quenelle of mustard ice cream on top of the cucumber brunoise.

3- Pour a small 20g portion of red cabbage gazpacho around the ice cream at the table.