This was one the best recipes to come out of the Culinary class last week. We had leftover roasted kabocha squash from our Vegetable Green Coconut Curry Stew. So the next day, we whipped up the kabocha squash with coconut milk, agave nectar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, maple extract and vanilla. We put in an ice cream machine and within half an hour, we had vegan ice cream that was so complex in taste and reminiscent of butterscotch. But it needed to be a bit smoother, maybe a bit sweeter, maybe more cinnamon-y because the allspice dominated a bit, maybe forget the maple extract and add real maple syrup…and a drizzle of maple syrup with some star anise flavored sea salt! That was Amanda’s contribution, thank you, so brilliant! It was a lot of fun brainstorming and tasting this dessert that clearly had lots of potential.
So taking everyone’s advice, I made it again today. The trick is to STEAM the kabocha so it is velvety smooth. I cut it in half and put it in a steamer for 40 minutes. I let it cool and then scraped it off the skin. I nixed the agave nectar and maple extract and used maple syrup. .The finishing touch was a sprinkle of sea salt and a drizzle of maple syrup on top of the ice cream just like we did in class. It is really amazing.
• 3 cups steamed kabocha squash puree, chilled
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup plus stevia to taste
• 2 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
Blend in high speed blender, adding water if needed for a smoother silky texture. Put in ice cream machine and follow directions.
