Rooi Bos ice cream with soft centred meringues and organic plums

Milky Rooi Bos has definitely got a time and place reference in my mind. I love Red Latte's and I will often make a pot of stove-brew tea with milk, a stick of cinnamon and a blob of honey. There are few things quite as soothing to the soul. 

Besides tasting beautiful, having that deep, toasty colour and delicate fruity flavour, it is completely South African, a quality I find quite appealing. I've seen it make it's way onto the BBC circuit with people using it on Master Chef as a smoking agent for fish. It made me proud but it also made me want to use it as more than a mere beverage: enter Rooi Bos ice-cream.

I served the ice cream with soft centred meringues that I made from the 6 egg whites I had left over and organic plums from Tierhoek. It went down a right treat!

Ice cream

Ingredients:

600ml milk

6 free range egg yolks

90g castor sugar

3 rooibos tea bags

250ml cream

1 quill of cinnamon

1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Warm milk, caster sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Whisk egg yolks lightly and add to the warming milk. Add cream and stir until the custard thickens. Once the custard is thick enough, add the tea bags and leave to cool for at least an hour. Cool mixture in the fridge for at least an hour more before putting it into an ice cream machine

Meringues

Ingredients

• 6 egg whites
• 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 200˚ C. Whip the eggs whites, sugar and vanilla extract until light and airy. The mixture would have doubled in size and not fall when the bowl is held over ones head. Pipe or quenelle the mixture on baking sheets. Using a wooden spoon, prop the oven door open and turn down the temperature to 160˚C. Bake for 45 mins. 

PS: I adapted this recipe from Food24