An Inspired Cook

I’ve been craving homemade ice cream, specifically something sweet and salty. After some thought I went with salted pistachios blended with honey vanilla ice cream. The sweet and salty flavors in this ice cream will tempt your taste buds. I had some leftover red and green chile pistachios that Joe and I experimented with as a spicy topper. Both flavors had a subtle spiciness but wasn’t overwhelming to the overall taste. The ice cream is a vanilla base but I replaced part of the sugar with honey. The honey gave it a distinct flavor that tasted unique. If you enjoy sweet and salty flavors, honey pistachio ice cream might be just for you!

The ingredients are evaporated milk, heavy cream, honey, sugar, salt, egg yolks, salted roasted pistachios, and a vanilla bean.

Heat a 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat. Add the can of evaporated milk and salt.

Next comes sugar, and . . .

honey.

Cut a vanilla bean in half, make a slit down the middle, pry it open and scrape out the seeds with a small knife.

Add the vanilla pod and seeds into the warm milk mixture. Whisk to distribute the seeds. When the milk begins to steam, turn off the burner, place a lid on top and let the vanilla infuse for 1 hour. After the hour is up, strain the mixture, remove the vanilla pod and return the vanilla infused mixture back into the pan. Heat the mixture over medium until it begins to steam a second time.

Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks.

When the milk mixture begins to steam, turn down the heat and ladle some of the milk into the whisked egg yolks. Whisk continuously until you’ve added enough of the warm milk to temper the eggs.

Pour the tempered eggs back into the pan with the warm milk. Turn the heat down to low and cook until the mixture begins to thicken like custard and will coat the back of a spatula.

Strain the custard.

Make an ice bath by placing ice in a large bowl. Place another bowl on top and pour in the heavy cream. Add the strained custard into the heavy cream and stir.

Stir until all the custard mixture is well combined with the heavy cream. Place a lid on top and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Prepare your ice cream maker. I have a kitchenaid ice cream bowl that attaches to my kitchenaid mixer. It’s a bowl that you place in the freezer until you need it. It works wonders if you haven’t tried it. After the custard mix has chilled sufficiently stir it one more time.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the instructions.

I always know when the ice cream is ready. See how much it expanded in about 20 minutes.

We added just a few chopped red and green chile pistachios as toppers for our ice cream. They were really good, if I had to choose I would say the red chile was my favorite but it’s really up to you if you want to adventure with a flavored topping.

After I poured the soft ice cream into a bowl, I stirred in approximately 1 cup of salted roasted pistachios into the ice cream.

Once you’ve blended the pistachios into the ice cream, place it into the freezer for several hours to harden.

Serve with a few chopped pistachios on top.

Honey Pistachio Ice Cream

12 ounces Evaporated Milk (whole)
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise and scraped
2 cups Heavy Cream
5 Egg Yolks
1 cup Salted Roasted Pistachios, (roughly chopped)
Heart of the Desert Red or Green Chile Pistachios, roughly chopped to top ice cream (optional)

Heat the evaporated milk, salt, sugar and honey in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the milk mixture along with the bean pod. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, then remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and let the mix infuse for 1 hour. Strain the mixture before pouring back into the saucepan, discarding the vanilla bean pod.

Make an ice bath by placing ice in a large bowl. Place a medium bowl over top and pour in the heavy cream. Set aside.

Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks. Rewarm the milk mixture, then gradually ladle some of the milk into the egg yolks whisking continuously. When the eggs are tempered, add back into the pan and begin to reheat. Cook over low heat until the mixture begins to thicken like custard and coat the back of a spatula.

Strain the custard back into the bowl with the heavy cream. Stir the mixture until cooled. Cover with a lid and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Stir the mixture once more and pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions. When ice cream is ready, pour into a freezer safe container and add the pistachios. Stir well to combine.

Place in freezer at least 4 hours to set.

Serve with chopped pistachios over top.