Raisin & Marsala Ice Cream

This upgraded version of rum & raisin was a complete accident. The mixture was made as a dessert filling but I had far too much and froze the leftovers. When I tried it from the freezer it was delicious and it has been recreated many times since.

Now when I say ice cream, I say it in a broad term. I have never made ice cream from a recipe and I certainly don't have an ice cream maker. So this is my take on ice cream. It is certainly creamy enough and I reckon it fights its corner admirably against real italian gelato and our friends at Oddonos. It is my Gelato Accidentale.

Ingredients

200g raisins
200ml sweet marsala such as Targa Riserva
500g marscapone (full fat)
600g creme fraiche (full fat)
60g icing sugar

Method

Soak the raisins in the marsala for 24 hours. You may need to mix them occasionally as the top raisins will poke out of the liquid once they start to soak up the wine.

Beat the cream and marscapone together with a whisk and once blended, whisk in the sieved icing sugar. Drain the raisins and mix them into the cream mixture. Take half of the remaining liquid and mix into the ice cream mixture. Taste the mixture, check the consistency and decide if you think it needs (and can take) more of the raisin liquor. Add as appropriate.

Transfer to plastic containers and freeze. Remove the ice cream from the freezer each hour and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon. This should keep the mixture light and fluffy and ensure that the raisins are equally distributed. When it gets too stiff to beat, leave to freeze completely.

Notes for gluttons

The spare wine mixture is just too good to waste. If you have a lot of raisin liquor left over, you could reduce it with more sugar to form a syrup topping for the ice cream. You will obviously need to cool this. Remember that it will thicken as it cools.

I have tried this with white port in place of marsala. It worked well but required more sugar.