Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

This is a very rich party pudding, suitable for serving in small quantities with fruit salad or a fruit confection as above. Use 2 real vanilla pods, which you have split lengthways, scraped out the little black seeds, and then chopped the pods finely. Add these to 9 fl oz (250ml) cream mixed with the same amount of milk and bring slowly to the boil, simmering for about 5 mins. Don't let it boil over. Beat 6 egg yolks with 2 1/2 oz (65g) caster sugar until they are a pale straw colour. Pour the milk and cream onto the egg yolks whisking continually, then return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat and stir gently to warm the custard through over a VERY LOW HEAT until it coats the back of the spoon. It will scramble if it gets too hot. Let it cool, then press through a sieve to remove large bits of vanilla pod. When cold, freeze, stirring a couple of times to break up hard bits. Or churn in your ice-cream machine (I would if I could ever remember to put the buckets in the freezer sufficiently in advance!)