Wild Orchid Ice Cream in Phyllo cups from Bethany Kehdy

Salep flour, which gives this ice cream its light and elastic consistency, is milled from the dried tubers of a species of wild orchid found in the Anatolian plateau. These tubers apparently resemble the testicles of a fox, and this gave the flour its name. It is widely thought to be an aphrodisiac.

If you can’t get hold of salep though, cornflour will work just as well.
 

Wild Orchid Ice Cream in Phyllo cups

Serves 6
Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus 8 hours freezing
Cooking time: 15 minutes

700ml/24fl oz/2⅔ cups whole milk
2 tsp salep flour or cornflour
¼ tsp mastic powder or about 2 small mastic tears ground using a pestle and mortar
175g/6oz/¾ cup caster sugar
1 tsp rosewater
2 tbsp roughly chopped pistachios, plus extra to scatter
3 sheets of phyllo pastry
40g/1½oz butter, plus extra for greasing
edible rose petals, to decorate (optional)
 
1. Pour 350ml/12fl oz/1½ cups of the milk into a small mixing bowl, add the salep flour and mastic powder and stir to dissolve.

2. Place a large pan over a medium heat, add the remaining milk and the sugar and whisk well to dissolve. Bring the mixture to the boil, then gradually pour the salep and mastic milk mixture into the hot milk as you continue to whisk vigorously, gently simmering the mixture over a low heat for 5 minutes, making sure it does not rise up in the pan and then overflow.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the rosewater and pistachios. Transfer to a freezer-safe mixing bowl, cover and leave to cool, then place in the fridge to chill.

4. Once the mixture has chilled, transfer to the freezer for 45 minutes, then remove and whisk well to break up all the ice crystals while incorporating as much air as possible to yield a creamier, fluffier end result. Return to the freezer for 30 minutes, then remove and repeat the process again, breaking up all the ice crystals that have developed. Repeat two or three more times. You may find that your whisk can no longer do the job as the ice cream hardens, in which case a spatula is a good substitute.

5. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4. Remove the sheets of phyllo from their packaging and cover them quickly with a damp tea towel.

6. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and brush six cups of a muffin pan lightly with some of it. Brush one phyllo sheet with more of the melted butter, add another layer on top, brush that one with butter and then repeat with the final layer. Slice the stack into six 15 x 13cm/6 x 5in rectangles, then gently press these rectangles into the greased muffin cups so that they form cup shapes.

7. Bake in the oven for 6–8 minutes or until golden brown. Tip the phyllo cups out of the pan and leave to cool. Fill with the ice cream and sprinkle with rose petals, if using, to serve.