Still not sold? Well, considering this recipe is from the late 60s, and includes one of the decade’s most popular ingredients — mayonnaise — you couldn’t be faulted for taking a pass.
Tomato ice cream, cucumber ice cream & avocado ice cream (1968)
By Elizabeth Alston – LOOK magazine July 23, 1968
The tomato ice cream on the rocks [below] makes a frosty start for a hot-summer menu.
Serve it alone, in a hollowed-out tomato, or trim a scoop with lobster. Or, round out a simple meat course with this creamy-rich purée.
Although the idea of tomato ice cream seems NOW, it can claim respectable Early American roots. Similar concoctions, like greengage-plum ice cream, flourished in Colonial eating taverns of the South.
Old World ancestors were probably sorbets — light, fruit-flavored water ices served at elaborate, many-coursed banquets to refresh the palate.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Creamy chicken salad mold: Retro recipe from 1965
If you’ve always longed for dessert first, ice-cream salads are what you’ve been waiting for. They taste like salads, but look like desserts — served in chilled stem glasses or frosted dishes.
The frozen purées recipes below convert from starter to partner to substance of a meal. They can stand alone as a separate salad or first course, can take jazzing up with cooked, chilled shrimp, lobster or crabmeat.
For a double-imaged salad, surround a scoop with an oil-and-vinegar-dressed version of the same vegetable: tomatoes, for example, and tomato ice cream.
Next, three recipes that prove vegetables come through creaming and freezing as gracefully as fruits.
Avocado ice cream salad recipe
Use a large, ripe avocado. With a stainless steel knife, cut in half; remove pit and scoop out flesh, then chop roughly to make about 1 cup.
Press through strainer or sieve with a wooden spoon to make 2/3 cup purée. Mix purée with 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsps. lime or lemon juice, 1 tsp. salt, little black pepper.
Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream until thick, but not stiff. Stir 1 spoonful into the avocado mixture, then stir this gently into the remaining whipped cream.
Pour into an ice-cube tray and freeze until firm. Makes 2 cups. Serve in chilled stem glasses or hollowed-out tomatoes.
DON’T MISS THIS: Old-fashioned cranberry souffle salad recipes from the 50s
Tomato ice cream salad recipe
Mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, store-bought or homemade, 1 can (8 ozs.) tomato sauce, 1-1/2 tbsps. lemon juice, 1 tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, little black pepper.
Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream until thick and foamy, but not stiff. Stir 1 spoonful into the tomato mixture, then mix this gently into the remaining whipped cream. Freeze until firm in ice-cube tray or in electric ice-cream maker.
Makes 2 cups. Serve in chilled stem glasses or in hollowed-out tomatoes.
Tomato may be peeled: either put into boiling water for 12 seconds, rinse immediately in cold to prevent further cooking, then peel off skin. Or impale tomato on cooking fork and slowly rotate in a gas flame until skin scorches slightly and “splits,” then peel off skin.
Cut slice off stem end of tomato and scoop out seeds and pulp with a spoon. Fill immediately with ice-cream salad or leave upside down in refrigerator until ready to serve.
MORE: Jell-O Salad Gelatin: Would you eat jello in celery & mixed vegetable flavors? (1964)
Cucumber ice cream salad recipe
Peel 2-3 medium-sized cucumbers. Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out most of seeds if they are large and coarse. If not, leave them. Using a stainless steel knife, dice the cucumbers to make 4 cups.
Bring to boil 2-1/2 cups water, add diced cucumber, 3/4 tsp. salt. Simmer slowly, uncovered, 15 mins. Drain well.
Purée cooked cucumber in blender with 1/2 cup loosely-packed plucked fresh mint leaves, or 2-3 tsps. dried mint leaves.
Mix this purée with 1/2 cup mayonnaise, little black pepper; add few drops green food color if desired. Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream until thick, but not stiff. Stir 1 spoonful into the cucumber mixture, then stir this gently into the remaining whipped cream.
Pour into an 8-inch square pan or divide mixture between 2 ice-cube trays and freeze until firm. Makes 3 cups. Serve in chilled stem glasses or hollowed-out tomatoes. Garnish with cucumber slices.
ALSO SEE: Check out these savory jello salad recipes from the 50s
