The best thing about this recipe is that the meringue uses up
the egg whites left over from making the ice-cream.
Okay, and it tastes like frozen Summer.

The base of this recipe is, of course, based on David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice-cream. The meringue is based on Paula’s Prodigious Pavlova. The rest is improvised.

ALERT: You’ll need to make the ice-cream custard base the day before you want to have the ice-cream ready, and the bowl of your ice-cream maker needs to be fully frozen (which can take up to 24 hours) before you can turn the custard into ice-cream. (In other words, if you want ice-cream on Saturday night, put the ice-cream bowl in the freezer and make the base on Friday night.

Also, this makes more than a litre of ice-cream, even before you add all the extras. If you only have a 1-litre ice-cream machine you might want to do a half batch.

Gather:
For the ice-cream:
5 large (or 6 small) egg yolks*
1 cup whole milk (skim won’t work)**
Pinch of salt
3/5 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream

For the meringue:
5 large (or 6 small) egg whites
400 g caster sugar
3 tsp cornflour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the mango sauce:
1 mango
3 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour

For the passionfruit sauce:
4 passionfruit
3 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour

For the strawberry sauce:
Okay, I cheated and used a good store-bought jam. But if you’re NOT lazy:
1 punnet strawberries
3 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour

Then:

For the ice-cream base:

1. If it isn’t already there, put your ice-cream machine bowl in the freezer!
2. Separate the egg yolks. Set aside the whites for the meringue.
3. Put a large metal mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer to chill.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Set aside.
5. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, salt and sugar — stirring regularly — until it’s hot when you dip a finger in, but not boiling.
6. One serving-spoonful at a time, add the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, whisking as you go. I can’t emphasis this enough: Don’t be too hasty. If you add too much of the hot liquid all at once, you’ll end up with sweet scrambled eggs. Yuck.
7. Once you’ve added all the milk to the yolks, pour the mixture back into the saucepan over a medium to low heat, and stir constantly until it coats the back of a spoon.***
8. Remove from the heat, and pour the hot custard into your large, chilled bowl. Quickly add the cream and stir well until fully combined.
9. Cover in cling wrap and store in the fridge for several hours (overnight is best).

For the meringue:****

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand beaters, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
3. Still whisking, add the sugar 1 tbs at a time until all incorporated.
4. Stop whisking. Using a spatula, gently fold in the cornflour, cream of tartar and vinegar.
5. Spoon into fist-sized mounds on a baking sheet (using baking paper if yours isn’t non-stick).
6. Reduce oven to 150° C and bake very slowly until golden on the outside.
7. Turn off the oven, but leave the meringues in there to cool.
8. When fully cooled, break up into pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature until needed.

For the mango sauce:

1. Peel and blend a mango (or use tinned if it’s off season).
2. In a small saucepan, heat the mango and sugar, stirring with a whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Sift in the cornflour, and whisk until combined. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens, then remove from the heat and set aside.

For the passionfruit sauce:

1. Scoop out the innards of 3 passionfruit into a small saucepan (or use tinned if it’s off season).
2. Over a medium heat, heat the passionfruit and sugar, stirring with a whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Sift in the cornflour, and whisk until combined. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens, then remove from the heat and set aside.

For the strawberry sauce (if you’re not using jam):

1. Dice the strawberries.
2. Repeat the same steps as for the passionfruit and mango.

To make the ice-cream:

1. Set up your ice-cream machine, but don’t take the bowl out of the freezer until you’re absolutely ready to go. Take the chilled custard out of the fridge, set out the fruit sauces and meringue, THEN de-freezer the ice-cream machine bowl.
2. Add the custard to the ice-cream machine and churn until it’s at soft-serve consistency. Stop churning.
3. Work quickly! Using a serving spoon, start transferring the ice-cream into one or two large, freezer-suitable containers. For each spoonful of ice-cream, add a teaspoon of each of the sauces, and a few chunks of meringue. Continue until you’ve transferred all of the ice-cream into the container(s). Don’t worry if there’s sauce/meringue left over (see below).
4. Quickly put the finished product in the freezer and let it set for a few hours before serving.

Notes:
It seems like a long process but trust me: it’s worth it. If you need a justification, make it as a special dessert for a dinner party or birthday.

You’ll probably end up with a lot more of the fruit sauces than you need. This, of course, is NOT a problem. Store them in a fridge and spoon a little extra onto the ice-cream when serving. Or spoon a little over muesli and yoghurt for a sweet breakfast. Or spread it on toast or bagels or croissants or…

*Handy fact, courtesy of Mr Lebovitz: One egg generally contains one tablespoon of yolk, and 2 tablespoons of white. Useful if you’re ever doubling/having recipes or substituting liquids/binders.
**If you use skim/low-fat ANYTHING in ice-cream, it will just turn out icy. Ice-cream needs sugar and/or fat and/or alcohol to keep it from freezing solid.
***For some reason this takes a different amount of time every time I do it. It could take up to 10 minutes, but could be much quicker.
****If you’re like me, your meringue will always end up soft and quite messy looking, which is actually good in this case — it freezes to a nice chewy consistency in the ice-cream. But if you’re lucky and end up with crispy meringues that’s will work too (and well done!).