Now I am no wuss, but on an occasion in 2001 when I was lucky enough to eat at Le Gavroche in London I wept into my food. Twice, actually. The first tears fell into my steamed scallops, the second into my fresh mint ice cream. The emotional melt-down that accompanied my lunch probably required professional therapy. In the absence of this, I set about trying to recreate the dishes and, hopefully, the experience.

I gave up on the scallops years ago. I couldn’t get close. But after some help from a friend, I didn’t do too badly with this recipe for the ice cream.

I am not suggesting that you will cry into your dessert, but it should be enough to impress your family and friends. By the way, this recipe should be enough for around 10 reasonable servings.

Ready

• 1 litre (a quart) of milk
• 12 egg yolks
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar (baking/superfine sugar)
• 200g (7oz) fresh mint leaves
• 1-2Tbsp green mint liqueur

Set

• saucepan
• 2 mixing bowls
• whisk
• sieve
• spatula
• ice cream maker

Go

1. Pour the milk into the saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Meanwhile, in the mixing bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar until it is thick and creamy.
3. Slowly, very slowly, pour the hot milk over the yolk mixture, whisking continuously. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over a low heat. Stir continuously with a spatula, until the mixture thickens a little.
4. Lay your mint leaves in the bottom of your mixing bowl. You don’t need to chop or tear them. They will still give off plenty of flavour. Pour the hot custard on top and leave to infuse until the mixture is cold. By all means, use the refrigerator to expedite this process.
5. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into another bowl, pressing down really well (perhaps with the back of a ladle) to extract all the flavour of the mint.
6. Add the mint liqueur, then pour into an ice cream maker and churn until frozen.