Here's an approximation of the recipe I used for our Chinese Banquet's dessert. I say an approximation because both recipes are mixtures of other recipes, so I need to remember (in my currently slightly sleepy state following a fabulous evening) exactly what the changes I made were...
Here goes:
For the ice cream
I adapted a recipe for Cinnamon and Basil ice cream from an ice cream recipe book I have. If you have never eaten Cinnamon and Basil ice cream, give it a go, it is divine.
You will need:
600ml full fat milk
8 egg yolks (check out
Honey Wild's website for ideas on what to do with all those egg whites)
225g caster sugar (maybe a bit less, given the lychee syrup below)
360ml double cream
Can of lychees in syrup
Bring the milk to a low boil. Whilst this is happening, mix the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Remove the milk from the heat, and slowly pour into the egg mixture, before returning the eggy custard mix to the pan (you may want to use a new pan / wash the pan quickly in case any of the milk has stuck to the side). Place over a medium heat, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens (it won't get really thick, so don't worry if it's not). Coating the back of a spoon is thick enough.
Remove from the heat, leave to cool, and chill.
Meanwhile, drain the lychees, retaining a bit of the syrup. Pop in a blender, with a bit of the syrup (remembering, the ice cream custard needs to be sweeter than you would have it normally, as the freezing process, for reasons I do not understand, loses some of the sweetness. To taste, you may want to use more syrup and less sugar).
This lychee puree along with the double cream can now be added to the custard mixture. I normally at this stage add a splash of something stronger - but for the life of me can't remember which bottle was nearest the kitchen at the time, Calvados maybe? This bit is optional of course!
Now churn the custard in an ice cream maker, or, if you don't have one, pop in the freezer, taking it out regularly to stir by hand so you don't end up with an ice cream ice cube. Pop in a container in the freezer, but take out about 30mins before you need to serve it and leave in the fridge.
For the Fondants
Firstly make the kumquat goo.
I got my kumquats from Global Fruit and Veg opposite Barclay Church in Edinburgh, as they're not something you can buy in every supermarket. They will reduce quite a bit in cooking so - and this isn't very helpful - I tend to get about a bag full, and make extra.
Slice and seed the washed kumquat. If you could do this over a pan to save up all the juices, then all the better, but mind your fingers, as they're quite tricky to handle!
Add enough water to the pan to half cover the sliced kumquat (you can add more as you go along if you want a gooier syrup) plus two or three tbsp caster sugar.
Bring to a simmering boil and cook until the kumquats are soft and the liquid becoming syrupy. Depending on evaporation, you may want to add further liquid at this stage. Taste and, if necessary, add a bit more sugar at this stage and allow to dissolve and become syrupy.
Add a splash of whisky (to taste).
Now put the mixture into an ice cube tray. Knowing this may influence how syrupy you want to make the mixture, as what goes in to the ice cube tray as syrup, will ooze out pleasingly from the finished fondant.
Freeze these kumquat cubes for a minimum of 2 hours, or any time before you actually assemble the fondants.
Now for the fondants batter (thanks to LaRousse's Moelleux et Fondants book - translation errors all my own). These quantities make four, I did a multiple of this for the Supper Club:
2 eggs
100g icing sugar
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Spices to taste - I used about a tsp each of cinnamon and ginger (my addition)
100g melted salted butter - plus butter for greasing
4 ramekins
Pre-heat the oven to 180c. Grease and flour the ramekins.
Beat the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes, till light and fluffy. Fold in the rest of the dry ingredients.
Finally fold in the butter.
Use two thirds of the batter to part fill the ramekins, then pop into each one a kumquat ice cube. Use the remaining batter to cover the ice cube.
Pop in the oven for between 16-18 minutes (according to my French recipe book). In reality, mine took a minute or so longer. You want them to be golden and slightly crisped on top, but not dried out.
Once out of the oven, use a palette knife to loosen the little fondants from the ramekins, invert onto a plate, dust with icing sugar, and serve with a generous dollop of the ice cream.
