Liquorice Ripple Ice Cream

OK so it's not salty, but it's made with Pontefract Cakes which contain real liquorice root—with all the goodness that implies ;)

This is an old recipe by Gary Rhodes, currently of Hell's Kitchen fame. I must say, I like the food better than the man, even though it does attract all those little Englanders who think of rival chef's Jean-Christophe Novelli's inventive French cuisine as foreign Frog's fare.

Anyway, Gary's the king of puddings and this ice-cream was originally paired with black treacle pudding—a winning combination!

Step 1: 200ml double cream; 200 ml milk; 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out; 4 egg yolks; 120g sugar
Mix the milk and cream and add the vanilla pod with seeds. Bring to the boil, fish out vanilla pod (I dry it and add it to a jar of caster sugar to impart flavour). Whisk the yolks and sugar and pour in the hot milk. Cool, stirring to prevent curdling and churn or part-freeze then stir with a fork regularly until thickened.

Step 2: 75g Pontefract cakes; 100ml water
Melt the Pontefract cakes in the hot water, cool and stir into the ice cream to form ripples while still soft.