Honey and milk ice cream with Pasteli (Greek honey and sesame seed bars)

Παγωτό με μέλι και γάλα, και παστέλι

Published originally on my blog on 2 August 2013

For the past couple of weeks in the Netherlands, we have been experiencing the worst heat wave since 2006. I wasn’t here in 2006, I moved here a year later and what I immediately liked about the Dutch summer was the cool temperatures. Never too hot, warm during the day with lots of sunshine, and pleasantly cool during the evenings.

I am Greek and I have lived in Athens my whole life so of course I’m used to the heat but let me tell you, what’s going on these past couple of weeks over here is something I can barely stand. The humidity is so high, your whole body sticks to every surface, every cloth and your mind just turns into mush. You have no energy or will to move, go out, work, eat or cook.

Needless to say, my kitchen is becoming more and more the least visited room in the apartment. The place where I’d normally spend a lot of my free time in, now I simply deny to enter.

That is unless I want to open the freezer to get some of this; ice cream. Quick and uncomplicated cooking is what it’s all about these days but the need to make my own ice cream is always present.

I’m nuts like that. I can’t eat the ready-made stuff, not more than once or twice during the summer. Chocolate is of course my number one choice when I make ice cream— I have actually been making a particular chocolate sorbet since early May, will have to share soon—but my latest addiction is this one. Honey and milk ice cream.

It is pure pleasure. A classic combination that yields an ice cream with a delicate flavor of honey and a subtle taste of milk. I’m not one to have ice cream on its own, I always like a little something to go with it, so this time I made pasteli. Pasteli is a famous Greek confection, a sesame seeds and honey candy that’s compressed into bars. It is a classic energy bar that’s a favorite among all Greeks.

The creamy, rich, milky, smooth ice cream and the chewy and slightly crisp pasteli are a match made in heaven. The honey in the pasteli brings out the honey flavor in the ice cream and the nuttiness of the sesame seeds complements its creaminess.
The heat wave may be relentless but it is also giving us a good excuse to splurge on our favorite ice creams. Or so we claim.

Honey and Milk Ice Cream

I used Greek flower honey but orange blossom honey would work very well. Make sure you enjoy the taste of the honey you’re using and that it is of good quality; the taste and texture of the ice cream depends on it.
To those of you who don't particularly enjoy the flavor of milk, let me assure you, it's not overwhelming.