Olive oil ice cream with blood oranges, inspired by these olive oil recipes, recently found its way to our kitchen with our first bottles of fresh, raw milk for the year. In this recipe for olive oil ice cream, the inclusion of a good quality unrefined, extra virgin olive oil is essential. The flavor of a good olive oil lingers, enhanced by fruity notes and an almost floral perfume. It is fresh and vibrant. Good quality olive oils are available in specialty food stores, health food stores and online (see sources).
In my version of olive oil ice cream is further complemented by the inclusion of blood oranges, though any orange should do. Blood oranges, with their customarily maroon-colored flesh, offer a unique flavor profile that is decidedly more complex than that of standard oranges. A good blood orange is tart, sweet and imbued by subtle floral notes which make it a nice pairing for olive oil - especially in this recipe for olive oil ice cream. Now that winter has receded, blood oranges are at the end of their season, finding a good blood orange may prove challenging. Indeed, the oranges at my store lacked the brilliant deep red flesh I'd hoped for and, instead, revealed an orange flesh speckled by dots of maroon. Nevertheless, that classic blood orange flavor remained and flavor, after all, is the key to a good dish. When selecting blood oranges for this olive oil ice cream, try to find those with the ruddiest rind as the redder the rind of the orange, the redder the flesh is likely to be.
Olive oil ice cream, like all the ice cream recipes posted here at Nourished Kitchen, highlights fresh, raw and minimally processed ingredients: fresh cream, fresh milk, raw honey, raw fruit and raw egg yolk - undoubtedly a food safety fanatic's nightmare. Years of adherence to a diet based on traditional foods, has removed any fear of raw food from our hearts, and we consume raw foods including many raw animal foods (oh ... steak tartar how you call to me!) with fair regularity. That is not to say that we're raw foods enthusiasts - we're not. Some foods are more nutrient-dense when served cooked. This olive oil ice cream is not one of them, however.
This olive oil ice cream, enriched by raw egg yolks from pasture-raised hens, is rich buttery yellow and dotted with bright orange segments. Of course, where there's color, there's nutrients. Fresh, raw egg yolks - especially when sourced from pasture-raised hens - is a potently rich source of biotin, a B vitamin known for its essential role in skin, hair and fetal development, making it an especially important nutrient for expectant mothers or for those who are trying to conceive. Raw egg yolk, particularly from pasture-raised hens, is also a good source of retinol or preformed vitamin A, a fat-soluble nutrient with far-reaching beneficial effects on human health.
Olive oil ice cream, as its name implies, also contains unrefined, extra virgin olive oil as a primary ingredient. While olive oil undoubtedly brings a unique charm to ice cream, it also imbues this nourishing dessert with naturally occurring antioxidants and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin E - a vitamin that is relatively difficult to come by in the standard American diet - at least in its natural form. These nutrients are further enhanced by the addition of blood orange - a food rich in vitamin C and various minerals.
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