1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Optional: 1/2 cup roughly chopped pistachios
You will need an ice cream machine for this recipe.
Finely grind pistachios in a food processor with 1/4 cup sugar (but not too finely unless you want a lot of granules in your ice cream). Combine the mixture and the milk in a large heavy saucepan and bring it to boil.
Remove from the heat and mix in vanilla extract and a little salt. Whisk egg yolks and remaining half cup of sugar in a medium bowl.
Gradually whisk in about 3/4 cup of the hot milk mixture. (the point of this is that you want to slowly heat the egg mixture to the same temperature as the milk mixture to make sure that the eggs don’t cook when you add them fully to the milk mixture.)
Stir the now warm egg mixture into the saucepan, turn the heat back on to low and add the heavy whipping cream. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens (a path should be left behind when you draw your finger across the back of the spoon). Don’t let it boil.
Strain the custard through a sieve (and save the ground pistachios! They make a great topping for anything breakfast-y like yogurt or pancakes). Chill overnight if possible, but at least 2 hours.
Pour the custard into your ice cream machine. If you wish, add the chopped pistachios into the machine in the last 5 minutes of churning. Freeze it further in a container in your freezer until it’s at the consistency you like.
