Vanilla Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients

• 0.5 l milk
• 0.25 L whipping cream
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 7 egg yolks
• 200 g sugar
• 150 g dark couverture chocolate
• 125 ml milk
• 100 g whipping cream
• 0.5 Vanilla bean
• 75 g soft butter
• 10 ml cognac (or Grand Marnier)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and stir them into the milk-cream mixture; bring to a boil.

2. 2.

   Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl until creamy.

3. 3.

   Stir the boiling milk into the yolk mixture, return everything to the pot, remove the vanilla bean, and cook over low heat while stirring with a wooden spatula until the custard thickens—do not let it boil.

4. 4.

   Strain the vanilla custard through a sieve, cool it in an ice bath while stirring occasionally.

5. 5.

   Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and churn to completion. (If no machine, pour into a shallow metal bowl and freeze, stirring repeatedly during the first hour).

6. 6.

   (Yields about 1 liter of ice cream. Approximately 16 servings (about 5 cl each)).

7. 7.

   For the chocolate sauce, chop the couverture. Boil milk and cream with the split vanilla bean, add the chocolate and melt it carefully; then whisk in the soft butter and fold the chocolate‑milk mixture into the butter while stirring.

8. 8.

   When serving, optionally flavor the sauce with cognac or Grand Marnier and pour warm over the vanilla ice cream.