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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Wild Peppermint Ice Cream with Espresso Fudge Sauce

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Wild Peppermint Ice Cream with Espresso Fudge SauceThe simplest things are often the most delicious-this ice cream is a perfect example. A while ago I was flipping through the Grammercy Tavern cookbook after I got to meet a hero of mine: Dorothy Kalins, founding editor of Saveur magazine, and mentor to my girlfriend (a talented writer in her own respect). The Tavern cookbook is just one of the multitude she has worked on as editor. There were plenty of great recipes, but the mint ice cream with fudge sauce was the one that I had to take a picture of and work on tweaking later.

Chef Michael Anthony and the Tavern serve simple food cooked with solid technique, different, but not too different from what I do at the Salt Cellar, just seasonal dishes made well.

I’m a total ice cream nut and I’ll make it out of anything, but this ice cream is special. Last year I wrote a post about some chickweed and watercress that stay alive through the winter at my girlfriend’s farm in Menomonie Wisconsin. Just so happens that the wild mint likes to stay alive too in the valley where they live, and the cold seems to even intensify it’s flavor. If it’s the cold making it taste so good, or if it’s just my imagination and lack of things to pick this time of year I don’t know, but I do know it tastes really, really good.

wild peppermint

Young growth of the wild peppermint I pick often starts out purple, turning green with age.

Lastly, hat’s off to Michael Anthony here for creativity as the ice cream base has no eggs. Instead, as a thickener it contains cornstarch. With the price of eggs hitting record highs this year, I’ve been experimenting with this ice cream, and getting good results. A number of regulars at the restaurant have told me it’s the best ice cream they’ve ever had. We can keep the cornstarch part a little secret between us. 🙂

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Wild Mint Ice Cream

Yield: roughly 8 cups of ice cream 
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Resting Time12 hrs
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Ice Cream, Wild Mint

Ingredients

  • 4 cups milk
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • Tiny pinch of salt
  • ½ cup packed wild mint washed and cleaned

Instructions

  • In a saucepan, combine 3.5 cups of the milk, the cream, salt, and 1 ¾ cups of the sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
  • Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the ¼ cup sugar and cornstarch, then whisk in the ½ cup milk. Ladle the simmering milk-cream mixture into the cornstarch mixture, then transfer back to the sauce pan and simmer for 2 minutes more, whisking constantly.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly, then add the mint and stir to incorporate.
  • Allow the mixture to infuse for 20 minutes, then pass through a strainer, pressing down with a ladle to extract the juices, and chill over night. The next day, spin in an ice cream maker, transfer to a container and freeze in a labeled, dated container.

Notes

The most important part of this is to not over-infuse the ice cream base. If you let the mint sit with the base for too long it'll taste like crest.
I only used the cornstarch base here since it's interesting, if you want to use another ice cream base you like, do it.

 

Wild Peppermint Ice Cream with Espresso Fudge Sauce
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Espresso Hot Fudge Sauce

Course: Appetizer, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Espresso, Fudge

Ingredients

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chopped fine (roughly 6 ounces-you could use chips for this )
  • 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup espresso or strong coffee optional
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon high quality vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Melt all ingredients together in a double boiler, stirring occasionally.
  • If you have a microwave you can probably get away with melting this on low heat if you keep an eye on it. The sauce can be refrigerated after melting, and reheated with a little water, milk or more espresso if you like.

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
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Alan Bergo
Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water by hand with Sam Thayer and @danielvitalis for @wild.fed 

Daniel and Sam were the apex predators, but I got a few. 

Without a net catching crayfish by hand is definitely a wax-on wax-off sort of skill. Clears your mind. 

They’re going into gumbo with porcini, sausage and milkweed pods today. 

#crayfish #ninjareflexes #waxonwaxoff #normalthings #onset🎥🎬
Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizo Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizomes and blueberries for this weeks shoot with @wildfed 

Been a few years since I worked with these. Thankfully Sam Thayer dropped a couple off for me to work with. They’re tender, crisp and delicious. 

Sam mentioned their mild flavor and texture could be because they don’t have to worry about predators eating them, since they grow in the muck of cattail marshes. 

I think they could use a pet name. Pond tusk? Swamp spears? Help me out here. 😂

Nature makes the coolest things. 

#itcamefromthepond #cattail #rhizomes #foraging #typhalatifolia
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
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