Pistachio Ice Cream

Recipe makes 1 quart of ice cream.

For the ice cream:
Heat the milk, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a medium saucepan until hot. Do not boil. In a small bowl whisk the egg yolks. Whisk in 1/8 of a cup of the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk until well blended and then add the yolk mixture into the remaining warm milk mixture. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Place the remaining 1 cup of cream in a large bowl with 1 cup of pistachio paste. Set a strainer on the top of the bowl and pour the hot milk and egg mixture into the paste and cream. Stir until all ingredients are blended. Refrigerate overnight or at least 3-5 hours.

Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store the ice cream in a freezer safe container. Serve and enjoy!

For making homemade pistachio paste:
Place the pistachios in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water for about 10 minutes. Drain the water and place the nuts on a clean tea towel. Peel the purple skin off the nuts. Place the pistachios on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 170 F. You do not want to toast the nuts, just dry them out. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Blend the pistachios and powdered sugar in a food processor until finely ground and blended. Add the almond extract and simple syrup and continue processing until smooth and creamy but not watery. This recipe makes about two cups of paste but you’ll only need 1 cup for the ice cream.

For the simple Syrup:
Combine the simple syrup ingredients in a small sauce pan. Cook and stir until it begins to boil. All sugar should be dissolved. Once it is, remove from the heat and cool. Makes 1/2 cup syrup.