Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
makes about 1-litre of ice cream

1 cup caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds extracted (still retain the empty pod)
4 egg yolks
350ml full cream milk
450ml pure cream (35-45% milk fat), refrigerated

In a small dry bowl combine sugar and vanilla seeds, using your fingertips and sugar granules, separate the vanilla seeds that tend to stick to each other.
Place sugar, vanilla seeds and egg yolks together in a large bowl and beat until thick and pale.
Place milk and empty vanilla pod into a medium heavy based saucepan over low heat and bring the milk just to a gentle simmer.
Remove from heat and strain the milk using a fine sieve.
Gradually pour the strained milk into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking slowly as you go.
Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk the custard until it thickens. (If you have a thermometer, the custard should be at about 60°C.)
Remove custard from heat and pass through a fine sieve again to remove any clumps that may have formed.
Place in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours.
In another bowl, whisk cold cream until just thickened.
Remove custard from the refrigerator and using a whisk, incorporate cream into the custard*.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions**.
When churned, transfer ice cream to a 1.0-litre airtight container and place in the freezer.
The ice cream should be ready to serve after 1-2 hours.

*Ensure that you do not add the cream to a warm custard mixture.
** Under no circumstances should you place warm custard into an ice cream machine, unless you want to destroy it.