Thursday, June 13, 2013

Hazelnut ice cream

The pursuit of yummy food is back!
Finally I´ve made up my mind to take up again my cooking blog and here we are again cooking a recipe by Emeril Lagasse: hazelnut ice cream.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/hazelnut-ice-cream-recipe/index.html
I got 1 and a half cup of raw hazelnut and baked them in the oven for 8 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheit, double the time he advised because of the peculiarities of my oven that sometimes requires more heating time. When they cooled off I peeled them as best as I could and roughly chopped them. In a large pan I boiled about a liter of half and half with 1 cup of granulated sugar until it started simmering. In a small bowl I whisked 6 egg yolks and then added to the large pan. I simmered it all again until it got thick and put the whole concoction in the refrigerator overnight, although a couple of hours ussually suffices. The next day I put the mixture rolling for 15 minutes in the ice cream maker and then for 5 minutes I added little by little the chopped hazelnuts. I froze the final mixture in the freezer at last inside a tupperware. The funny thing is that 2 days later it tasted really much better because the flavours mixed inside the plastic container, which I would never have suspected because of the highly cold temperature inside. So the hazelnutty flavour expanded to the yolky half and half sugary mix, making it a delicious choice for late Spring-early Summer ice cream with the woody and sober sweetness of the noble hazelnut. Delicious!