Green Tomato Marbled Goat Cheese Ice Cream

Last year, I submitted a green tomato ginger ice cream recipe to the Washington Post's tomato recipe contest. It didn't win, but it did get a shout-out here and here. Inevitably, it's a boring recipe that wins. (Last year, it was a tomato stack salad.)  Convinced that I could make a tomato ice cream that was just as delicious as it was creative, I came up with this: green tomato marbled goat cheese ice cream. It's a play on fried green tomatoes with goat cheese. The sweet and cream goat cheese base is contrasted by a slightly tangy swirl of green tomato jelly. It is in fact delicious, but again, it didn't quite make the cut. In today's Post Food Editor Bonnie Benwick writes: "Attempts at ice cream have come close; keep trying, and we'll keep testing them." Time to start plotting for next year.

Recipe:
Yield: 1 quart

3 large green tomatoes
1/3 cup and 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
5 oz. soft mild goat cheese

Green Tomato Jelly
Chop the green tomatoes into bite size chunks. In a medium saucepan, cook the tomato with 1/3 cup sugar and lemon juice over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Press the tomato mixture through a sieve to remove pulp and seeds. Chill in the refrigerator.

Goat Cheese Ice Cream

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  In a separate bowl, whip the egg yolks and set them aside. Just before the milk and cream reaches a simmer, gradually add about half of the mixture to the egg yolks, stirring continuously. Gradually pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Continue to stir until the liquid forms a thick custard that coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Crumble the goat cheese at the bottom of a large bowl and pour the hot custard over it. Stir until the cream cheese has melted. It may help to use an electric hand mixer to blend it together. Cool the custard in the refrigerator or using an ice bath. Once it's cold, whip the custard to incorporate some air—this will improve the ice cream texture. Pour the custard into the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. When it has reached the desired consistency, pour the cool green tomato jelly into the ice cream maker in a steady stream and churn for a few more seconds to create a swirl. When transferring the ice cream into a container, try not to mash it up too much in order to retain the marbling effect.