The days were nice, warm and sunny. There was lavender blooming in our garden and the apricots on our trees were getting nice and ripe. Thanks to my friend who takes frequent trips to Madagascar and then showers me with the most amazing vanilla beans ever, the drawer was still packed with them and well, what better way to use them than to make some delicious vanilla bean ice-cream and top it with some lavender, fresh, warm apricot jam and toss with some roasted pine nuts for a bit of crunch.

You will need a chilled ice-cream maker for this one and a few hours to spare.

INGREDIENTS:

• 300 ml heavy cream
• 300 ml full-fat milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 100 g white sugar
• 3 vanilla pods
• Apricots
• Sugar
• Lavender flowers
• Roasted pine nuts

METHOD

1. Bring the heavy cream and milk to a gentle boil and add the scraped out vanilla beans – both seeds and the remaining pods. Turn off the heat and leave it to chill and infuse for an hour or so.
2. Put the egg yolks and sugar into a self-standing mixer. Whisk it well and add a ladle of the chilled vanilla infused cream to the eggs. Meanwhile, bring the rest of the cream-milk mixture to boil again and slowly add it to the egg mixture. Continue whisking for 5 minutes on high-speed, so the mixture cools off a bit.
3. Place a large bowl over a water bath and pour in the ice-cream mixture. Stirring occasionally, cook the mixture slowly until it thickens and starts to cover the spoon.
4. Now it’s time to cool the mixture. Put it in a cool bowl and leave it chill to room temperature. Once it’s cool enough put it in the fridge for a few hours.
5. When you’re ready to make the ice-cream, remove the vanilla pods (you will need them later), start your ice-cream maker and pour in the chilled mixture. It should take about half an hour to one hour, depending on your ice-cream maker.
6. Meanwhile you can make your warm apricot sauce. Simply put halved apricots into a pan, and add some sugar. I usually use the 3:1 ratio of apricots and sugar. Wash the vanilla pods well to remove the cream and use them as well. Cook for half an hour and add a splash of lemon juice in there if you feel it’s too sweet.
7. When the ice-cream is nice and frozen it’s time to put it all together. Bring a nice scoop or two in a bowl, cover with a spoon or two of the apricot sauce, sprinkle with some lavender flowers and add a spoon of roasted pine nuts. Let the adventure begin!;)