There are lots of emergencies in the snow, you see. Some
people break their legs and others get stranded in their cars. The 24-hour news
coverage uses the word “treacherous” so freely that you begin to wonder whether
there is a new nutty, marshmallow-y chocolate bar on the scene called Treacherous,
the manufacturers of which have embarked on an expensive and wide-reaching
subliminal advertising campaign. But I have no time to ponder these types of
questions because as I said, this is an urgent situation.
When I saw that it was snowing earlier this week, I went all Earth Mother because I remembered that we are all one organism; us and the
earth. I know this to be a fact because I used to smoke grass! Literally!
You see, as a naive 13-year-old I was conned into buying
some rolling papers and a rolling “machine” from an older girl at school. I was
too young to buy tobacco and so to avoid my purchase becoming a waste of money,
I used to roll up grass from the local park and smoke that instead. Imagine
putting your mouth over an entire bonfire and inhaling – it was catastrophic.
However, I learnt there and then that I was at one with the
earth; I was smoking it and it just letting me stand on it.
Right, right – sorry, an emergency. The recipe I am bringing
to you today is concerned with snow and snow melts and only comes once or twice
a year so if I don’t tell you about this RIGHT NOW, you might have to wait another
year before trying it.
Incidentally, life as a food blogger isn’t easy. I can’t
just cook stuff I love all the time, otherwise I would simply bring you a
selection of vegetable lasagnes and lemon drizzle cakes. Instead, I have to do
crazy things! Wild things! Things I don’t want to do! Some may say that as I
have no readers, there is no point in me doing these things I hate…and they
would be right…but I am very silly.
So, when I saw that it had snowed, I thought I had better
make the most of it, even though the last thing one wishes to eat at the height
of winter is a bowl of ice cream.
According to every website I have ever read about snow ice
cream, you’re meant to be very vigilant about which snow you use. For example
and perhaps most importantly, do take note of Frank Zappa’s advice and Don’t
Eat The Yellow Snow (I can’t take credit for this reference).
To collect your snow, you are technically meant to leave a bowl outside (in a quiet area) and let
the snow fall directly into the bowl. Then collect the bowl right away. That is
probably what you should do but for
those of us who didn’t think about this in time, don’t worry too much.
 |
| My snow, collected from the garden. |
This recipe makes 1 serving of vanilla sorbet/ice cream but
you can easily double, triple etc. the quantities as you see fit.
Ingredients
400ml snow
25g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 tsp but this was too much,
so measure it to your own tastes)
60ml milk (you might not need all of this)
- Stir your sugar into the snow.
- Stir in the vanilla – taste as you go along to make sure you’re not going over the top like I did.
- Stir in enough milk for the desired consistency. Mine had almost all of the milk in, which made it more sorbet-like. If the worst happens and you put too much milk in…just go outside and collect some more snow!
It goes without saying that you should try to work quickly
but if this doesn’t happen, pop the ice cream into the freezer for a few
minutes. Serve in a pretty dish!
