Tempura Pumpkin with a Drizzle of Caramel Sauce and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 12 pieces fresh pumpkin (about 4 inches long and 1-inch thick), cooked until tender
• Salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup ice-sold soda (seltzer) water
• 1/2 cup Cinnamon and Sugar mixture (**equal parts)
• 1 recipe Cinnamon Ice Cream, recipe follows
• 1 cup warm Caramel Sauce, recipe follows
• Shaker confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat the fryer to 360 degrees F.

Season the pumpkin pieces with salt. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, egg, and soda water and mix well to make a smooth batter. Dip each piece of pumpkin in the batter, shaking off any excess. Carefully lay the slices in the hot oil. Fry in batches until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Place a scoop of ice cream in the center of each serving bowl. Lay 3 pieces of the pumpkin next to the ice cream. Drizzle the entire bowl with the Caramel Sauce. Garnish with confectioners' sugar.

Cinnamon Ice Cream:

• 4 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon

In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the half and half, sugar, and salt, over medium heat. Bring the cream to the boiling point and scald it. Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the half-and-half mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, to the beaten eggs, whisking in between each addition, until all is used. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Pour the filling into the ice cream machine and follow the manufacture's instructions for churning time.

Yield: about 1/2 gallon

Caramel Sauce:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is a deep caramel color and has the consistency of a thin syrup, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cream, return the saucepan to the high heat, and boil the sauce until it regains the consistency of a thick syrup, about 2 minutes.

Yield: about 3/4 cup

Recipe adapted from Creole Christmas Cookbook, by Emeril Lagasse, with Marcelle Bienvenu, published by William Morrow, 1997