SERVINGS: 2 persons
PREPARATION TIME: 20 mins
SETTING TIME: 2 hours
This summer, I took the opportunity to visit the sublime Bassin d’Arcachon, located in the South West of France, not far from Bordeaux. It was a charming little town, with magnificent beaches for the more relaxed vacationer and the dunes of Pilat to satisfy the sports enthusiasts. The bay itself exhibited colors that I never believed existed, offering a truly spectacular, jaw dropping landscape from the Arcachon to the Cap Ferret.
The Bassin d’Arcachon can be easily visited by foot from its neighboring villages and enables their guests a first-rate, restful weekend. Not to mention the local gastronomy, which is impeccably good (vegans and vegetarians rejoice): truly a place that one should plan on visiting!
On one excruciatingly hot afternoon, I took a leisurely stroll through the Arcachon village and gave into the temptation to indulge on a larger-than-normal scoop of pistachio ice cream. I mean, who could resist?
I remember being a bit wary prior to my ice cream flavour of choice, especially considering the fact that over the years I’ve avoided most store-bought ice creams, particularly flavours such as pistachio, which have a tendency to use artificial flavourings and dubious green additives.
At this moment however I found it impossible to resist the urge of a fresher-than-normal scoop and to my great satisfaction, I was met with a refreshing, genuine pistachio taste… A “sweet pleasure!” as French pastry chef Pierre Hermé would say.
About the recipe
Upon arriving back in London, I was keen on recreating the flavours that had met my taste buds at the Bassin. Luckily, I had found a gourmet vegan and gluten free California pistachio ice cream recipe by American Pistachio Growers. To my great surprise, albeit not being the original Pierre Hermé recipe, which uses whole milk and egg yolks, this online adapted recipe actually turned out to be my new favorite recipe and flavour of ice cream.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole unsalted roasted American pistachios
- ¼ tsp. kosher or sea salt
- 2 tbsp. corn flour
- ¾ cup caster sugar
- 1 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preparation
- Place 1.5 cups of pistachios in a bowl and cover with water. Soak between 1 and 8 hours. Drain and rinse the pistachios under cold water using a colander.
- Using a food processor, blend the remaining half cup of pistachios with ¼ tsp of salt until reaching a breadcrumb consistency.
- Place the drained pistachios in a blender with 2 1/4 cups of water and blend for a few minutes.
- Measure out a half cup of the prepared pistachio cream and combine well with the corn flour.
- Pour the remainder of the pistachio cream into a large saucepan, and add the chopped pistachios and sugar, cooking over medium-high heat until the mixture just starts to reach a boil.
- Add the cornmeal mixture and cook for another minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
- Sieve the mixture into a bowl for an extremely creamy texture of ice cream and place cling film tightly over the mixture.
- Let the ice cream mix cool completely to room temperature, then refrigerate for about 2 hours.
- Place in an ice cream maker for 20 to 25 minutes and enjoy!
