Well I seem to have gone on hiatus from blogging…. Oops. I didn’t stop experimenting in the kitchen though! Just lazzzzyyyy. I’m breaking the silence with something really cool and unique I came up with recently that is perfect for summer (and easy on the tummy). I have become a huge fan of nut milks recently (homemade!) and thought it would be really cool to make a custard base for ice cream using nut milk instead of heavy cream. My mom LOVES pistachio ice cream so I had some raw unsalted pistachios on hand… Why not make pistachio milk ice cream?! Strawberries are a perfect pairing for pistachios and since it’s summer they are in season. This could be made vegan by omitting the eggs but the result would be icier. The texture is somewhere between ice cream and sorbet and it’s the perfect amount of sweetness. Enjoy!

What you’ll need:

• 3 cups pistachio milk (recipe follows)
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• Juice from one lemon
• 1/2 cup roasted pistachios

Directions:

• Heat pistachio milk in a heavy saucepan over low heat until just simmering (do not boil!). Remove from heat.
• While milk is heating whisk egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in bowl until light and frothy. Add a ladleful of hot milk to egg yolks to temper, whisking hard. Pour egg mixture back into saucepan with the remaining hot milk and stir to combine.
• Return custard base to low heat and stir continuously until mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, about five minutes (can take longer).
• Pour custard through a mesh strainer into a clean bowl and add almond extract. Cool then refrigerate for at least two hours (I typically do overnight).
• Combine strawberries in a bowl with lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
• Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor to desired consistency (I kept mine chunky). Add strawberries to custard base and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
• Churn mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions (I did mine in a Cuisinart machine for ~25 minutes). The ice cream should look like soft serve. Add roasted pistachios and churn for 30 seconds (or longer) to combine.
• Eat right away if you prefer soft serve texture or freeze for an hour to produce a harder ice cream.
• Enjoy!!

Pistachio Milk:

• Soak 1 cup raw, unsalted pistachios in water for at least one day (I typically do two).
• Rinse nuts then place in blender with 2 cups of water. Pulse to break up the nuts then blend on high power for a minute.
• Pour mixture through cheese cloth placed into a mesh strainer. You may need to squeeze the cheese cloth to get all of the liquid out. You should end up with ~3 cups of pistachio milk.
• Keep refrigerated and consume within 3 days.