03 Jul

Pistachio Gelato

Posted as Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts

pistachio-ice-cream-main

July is National Ice Cream Month. As if I needed an actual excuse to eat more ice cream, I am embracing the holiday and bringing you a new ice cream recipe each Friday during the month of July to celebrate. And lucky for us, July has not four, but five Fridays this year. Woohoo! I also needed a good excuse to use my ice cream maker more often. Ironically, I used it more over the winter than I have so far this summer. I am kick-starting the month of ice cream with a Pistachio gelato. I’ve had this recipe in the back of my head for some time, for it was either after I received my ice cream maker or I found out I was no longer allergic to nuts that my Chief Culinary Consultant suggested I make pistachio ice cream. I never forgot, but just never got around to it. Me being lazy about ice cream? Totally ridiculous, and I needed to right this wrong.

pistachio-ice-cream-bowl

The first thing I did when searching for a pistachio ice cream recipe was, of course, to flip open The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have a regular pistachio ice cream recipe (although it does have a dried apricot and pistachio ice cream that looks wonderful!). So then, I Googled. I found this recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini that was adapted from a recipe that David actually provided on his blog. Called a gelato because it uses the traditional Sicilian technique of thickening the custard with cornstarch, rather than egg yolks, this is truly magnificent. Creamy, flavorful and a little crunch of pistachio in each bite. It makes me want to do nothing but sit at a sidewalk cafe in Italy and eat gelato all summer long!

If you can’t imagine ice cream without a true-to-form, egg-based custard, then I would recommend this recipe from Use Real Butter. It’s very similar to the one below, except that it uses egg yolks to thicken the custard.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

More frozen goodness:
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Chocolate Espresso Semifreddo

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Pistachio Gelato

Yield: 3 cups

1¼ cup untoasted, unsalted, shelled pistachios
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fruit or nut liquor* (suggestions: limoncello, amaretto, grand marnier)

1. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine the pistachios and sugar and process in short pulses until the mixture is reduced to a fine powder. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup of the milk with the cornstarch, and stir with a spoon to dissolve. Set aside.

3. Combine the rest of the milk (1¾ cups) with the pistachio mixture in a medium saucepan. Set over medium heat and bring just to a simmer, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon.

4. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring continuously as the mixture thickens. The custard is ready when it coats the wooden spoon, and you can trace a path on the back of the spoon with your finger.

5. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.

6. Stir in the honey and liquor and whisk to blend. Let cool to room temperature on the counter, whisking occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled (overnight is best).

7. Whisk the chilled custard, and churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

*If you don’t wish to use liquor, you can substitute lemon or lime juice. This will help keep the gelato soft and scoopable in the freezer.

(Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini, which was adapted from David Lebovitz)

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21 Comments

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Pistachio ice cream is DEFINITELY a prime flavor choice for this month’s ice cream celebration Holy yum!

Comment by VeggieGirl — July 3rd, 2009
Pistachio ice cream! Yumm! Looks great! And its a David Lebovitz recipe, so it must taste awesome too!

Comment by Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) — July 3rd, 2009
Looks great! I love that you can see so many pistachios!

Comment by erika — July 3rd, 2009
Good pistachio ice cream is my favorite!yummyyyy

Comment by veggie wedgie — July 3rd, 2009
Oooooh! SINFULLY delicious! I love it!

Comment by Katie — July 4th, 2009
That pistachio gelato looks so good! Pistachios are my favorite nut and and ice cream with them sounds perfect!

Comment by Kevin — July 4th, 2009
MMM looks really yummy! One day I want a ice cream maker and make my dream flavors of ice cream.

Comment by Erin Brooks — July 4th, 2009
One thing I would like to see for a tutorial would be how to make your fondant bows!

Comment by Katie — July 5th, 2009
For the past few years, i’ve looked for any excuse to make ice cream, frozen custard, gelato, frozen yougrt…. you name it . Pistachio is my absolute favorite flavor, so i was very excited to see this recipe posted. I had all the ingredients hanging around the house, so i didn’t hesitate to try it. For the first time, however, i was disappointed in a recipe on brown eyed baker. The texture was nice, but the flavor was just not right. Something is missing. Anyone have any ideas?

Comment by me — July 5th, 2009
Yep, I am definitely making this now that I have an ice cream maker. Pistachio gelato is my favorite! Mmm.

Comment by elly — July 5th, 2009
I haven’t tried making ice cream yet because I’m scared of the egg part, so maybe I’ll start with this recipe to ease into things – I love pistachio!!

Also, your super helpful sugar cookie decorating tutorial inspired me to buy everything I need to make cute sugar cookies for an upcoming baby shower – I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out

Comment by Kerstin — July 5th, 2009
Hi Kerstin,

Definitely let me know what you think of this egg-less recipe if you give it a go!

Also so glad to hear I inspired you to give cookie decorating a shot. I think you’ll just love it. I think it becomes fairly addicting once you get the hang of it and you think of all the fun things you can do! Please definitely keep me posted on how they turn out!

-Michelle

Comment by Michelle — July 6th, 2009
THANK YOU for posting a pistachio-anything recipe. I love all things pistachio, and have been looking for a good pistachio ice cream recipe. Gelato will definitely do just fine!

Comment by ang — July 6th, 2009
I have never had Gelato before but this recipe looks amazing. I might just have to give it a try.

Comment by Amber — July 12th, 2009
i LOVe gelato, and i LOVE pistacios. we’ll be making this this week. THANK YOU!

Comment by jessiev — July 22nd, 2009