#2 Roasted Pistachio Pistachio

It's time for ice cream #2!

Usually when I make an ice cream I peruse places of knowledge (books, internet, memories) for recipes and any tips that might help with what I want to do. One of my primary ice cream resources is David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop". The recipes are great and the pictures are amazing. If you're interested in making ice cream I would highly suggest picking up a copy.

David's recipes primarily use egg yolks to form a custard base, which is supposedly the French way of doing things (French Vanilla is French because of the egg yolks, that's why it's more yellow than not-French vanilla). Egg yolks act as an emulsifier, which helps to hold all the ingredients in the ice cream together, improving texture and creaminess. But I've found that the amount of eggs needed in ice cream can be excessive and expensive, and having made ice cream with eggs and without eggs I find I can get my ice creams to still be very creamy without the addition of egg yolks - plus I'm on a budget! Also, eggs can be dangerous if the custard base doesn't reach a high enough temperature. So, you can assume that most of the ice creams made will be eggless. If eggs are used, you'll know.

Anyway, I used two different pistachio ingredients to impart the pistachio flavor into this week's ice cream, hence the 'pistachio pistachio' in its name.

First up, La Tourangelle Roasted Pistachio Oil which has been in my fridge for a few months AND of course: actual pistachios!

In my haste of purchasing the pistachios I didn't check the ingredients - the pistachios I bought were shelled and salted. They are REALLY salty. This would have never worked right in the ice cream, so I improvised: I WASHED THEM!

The saltiness was reduced substantially. I let them dry and then chopped them up. The mortar and pestle was inefficient so I broke out the handy 1.5 cup chopper. Thanks, Chefmate.

The roasted pistachio oil went into the initial ice cream base as it was heated and the chopped up pistachios were churned into the ice cream about 3 minutes before it finished.

The sugariness of the ice cream base mingled with the roasted pistachio oil to create a wonderful flavor. Add in the texture and taste of the crushed pistachios and you get a total bonanza of pistachioness! Of course, the ice cream didn't take on a green color like the pistachio ice creams you might find in a store... because those use food coloring! I may use some food coloring in the future to spice some of these ice creams up with attractive colors so they become more photogenic.

Here's the final product with a sprinkle of whole pistachios on top!