Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Ice Cream

Yeah, you read that right.

I made ice cream with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. And I served it over a bed of macaroni.

Why? Because I could. And because I thought it'd be a fun, crazy idea. And I'm going to tell you all how I made it.

I basically adapted a simple and straightforward ice cream recipe:

THE INGREDIENTS!!
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
10oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped, to taste

THE METHOD!!
All you do is mix the milk, cream, sugar, and salt together with an electric mixer on low speed. Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, stir in the spinach. Refrigerate over night.

The next day, make the ice cream as per the machine's instructions. At the end, stir in the chopped tomatoes. It's a good idea to have the final resting place ready and chilled so the ice cream won't melt during transport.

When it's time to eat, cook up some pasta (I had macaroni, so that's what I used) and cook to al dente. Drain the pasta, but reserve some of the water. Toss the noodles with some salt, and use a little of the reserved water (a few tablespoons) to help it stick if you like.

Let the noodles cool from piping hot to warm, then serve with a scoop or two of your ice cream.

In the end though, I'm sad to say that my crazy idea was not a huge success. My victims, er- I mean: tasters and I all agreed that the ice cream was tasty and had a good foundation. However, it was simply too rich and too sweet to have as a main course. I tried for a hot/cold salty/sweet dish, and I achieved that goal, true. But I also had an overabundance of spinach and not enough of the tomatoes for the flavors to balance correctly.

But! I will not consider the dish a failure. It may not have turned out quite how I wanted it, but it was a fun experiment. Now that I know the ice cream itself will work, I need to go back and tinker. A little research may yield a better base recipe with which to work. Further, I may skip the pasta next time and just have this be some kind of appetizer dish, assuming I can get the balance right. It just means I'll need to try again!

Well, thanks for joining me on this quick post. If you have any thoughts regarding the dish or the condition of my sanity I look forward to hearing them! Until next time everyone!