Now if you have made a nut based ice cream or gelato before you will know it is not that it is difficult it is just that it takes a while and has a lot of little steps. We started by getting a big bag of hazelnuts from Costco. Before you can use these you must remove the skins which seems simple enough. Roast the nuts, rub with a towel and your done. In practice, not that simple. After cursing under my breath for about an hour rubbing, picking, plucking, cutting, etc I was about 2/3 of the way through the pile of nuts when Jamie decided to help me. The best thing she does is use the old google machine to find a better method for skinning the nuts. Boil them in water with baking soda.
Now the fun beings, scald the milk. Then add the ground nuts and let them sit there for a couple hours to infuse the hazelnut goodness. Strain the milk and return to sauce pan add the chocolate and melt over medium heat. In a blender mix 5 egg YOLKS and 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until very think. Now this is where I should have know something was up but I will chalk it up to lack of sleep. Instead of egg yolks I beat 5 egg whites with the sugar and it never really got that think. It did get fluffy though.
Then add the egg mixture to the milk/chocolate mix cook it over medium heat. The book said to create a custard that is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. I think they should really define "coat" my soupy mixture coated the spoon for a few seconds. Again I should have realized something was wrong. Next you flash cool the mixture and put it in the fridge for several hours. It was some time around here that Jamie walks into the kitchen and like a jackass says "Where did you put the egg whites?" I smartly reply in the gelato and she says "Doesn't it call for egg yolks?"
Insert head slap and D'oh here!
I decided I was too far along the process to turn back. I waited for mixture to cool put in the mixer and let 'er rip. After about 30 mins it did thicken up and once I put it in the freezer it hardened up. In the end the gelato tasted pretty good but the consistency is off. So not a total failure and I will trying it again in the near future. Maybe pistachio next time.
Recipe
3 cups roasted, skinned, and ground hazelnuts
4 1/2 cups whole milk
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used Callebaut milk chocolate because milk chocolate is best)
1/2 cup of sugar
5 egg yolks (but apparently whites work too...)
Mark's thoughts: Skinning hazelnuts is fun I wish I could do it everyday. The gelato was tasty and probably worth the effort but I would not make it everyday that is for sure.
Jamie's thoughts: Jamie is a purist she likes just hazelnut and add to the fact that the consistency was off she would like me to try again with yolks this time.
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| Skinning the hazelnuts |
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| Scalding the milk, ground nuts and chocolate ready to roll |
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| Maybe a little off with respect to consistency |
Congrats!! Well... mostly to Jamie for buying the attachment. Smart cookie, that girl. If only we lived closer...CR is really pretty this time of year, BTW!!
ReplyDeleteAt work I was skinning hazelnuts on a very regular basis for about 8 months. Our trick was to roast them in the skins until they were slightly coloured (time depended on which oven we put them in and how hot the oven was). As soon as they come out of the oven wrap them in a tea towel (or two if you're doing more than will fit in one tea towel). Leave them until they're cool enough to handle, roughly 20-40 minutes. Rub them around a bit in the towel, then continue probably in a similar manner to how you were, rubbing the nuts between your hands. There would still be the odd one that didn't want to shed it's skin, and we didn't bother to be super picky and peel it off, but you could if you wanted to.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea Mark...thanks for sharing.