Pistachio Ice Cream

Nothing says summer like homemade ice cream!

I love everything about ice cream. For a wedding present we received a cuisinart counter top ice cream maker, and it is definitely one of my favorite things (even if it doesn't get used nearly often enough). I never seem to plan far enough in advance to have the bowl frozen and the ingredients on hand when I am ready to eat ice cream, so I usually just end up going out for a cone instead. Last summer I discovered a love for pistachio flavored ice cream thanks to the delicious one at Lizzy's in Waltham, and a couple of weeks ago I decided to try and make my own. I used a no-cook Southern Living base recipe which is by far my favorite no cook ice cream method I have found. I have not yet adventured into the kind you have to cook before freezing, but if I ever do I will write a comparison.

The mix is simple enough. Mix everything together and put in the fridge overnight. The hardest part was shelling all the pistachios (I highly recommend buying the shelled ones). We had several bags that had a few pistachios left in them, so I decided to just combine eveything we had and hope it was enough. I discovered while shelling the second bag, that they were actually salt and pepper flavored. Oops. So I shelled them all anyways and then just washed them off in a colander before throwing them in the food processor. Worked good enough and the final product did not at all taste like pepper I am happy to report.

I decided to add mini dark chocolare chips to the mix, because why not? I like to use mini chips in ice cream instead of regular size ones because they can get pretty hard when frozen, and no one likes broken teeth. I also froze the ice cream maker bowl for the required 24 hours. The next evening I took everything out, poured it in, turned it on for 30 minutes, and...

Nothing. I don't know what was going on that night, but my ice cream did not freeze at all. Cue some frantic googling to figure out if maybe I added something I shouldn't have to the recipe before freezing. I couldn't find any conclusive answers, but it was a hot night, and I had been running the oven for awhile to cook dinner, so I decided to try and salvage what I had by dumping all the mixture back into Tupperware, washing and refreezing the bowl, and turning our refrigerator down a few degrees. Either the colder temperature or the extra time did the trick, because when I ran it again the next morning, I got delicious, creamy, frozen goodness in only 20 minutes.

I scooped it all into Tupperware and tuck it back in the freezer for a couple hours, and the texture came out perfectly. By far the best ice cream mix I have used, not at all hard or icy and the perfect, scoopable density.

In veggie news, I have tried some not so great recipes this week that didn't work no matter how hard I tried to save them. My beet chips that I have been so excited to try never got crispy, and while they tasted great, the soggy texture was really hard to eat. I don't know if I added too much oil, cooked at the wrong temperature, or what, but after doubling the time on the starting recipe they were still soggy. I also tried roasted radicchio this week using a basic olive oil, salt, balsamic, and parmesean recipe but I couldn't stand the texture, and the bitterness really stood out to me in a way that mixing the raw radicchio in a salad didn't. Those will probably be eaten raw from now on. refrigerator dill pickels came out great, if not a little too vinegary, but you won't hear me complain.

Pistachio Ice Cream

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk

2 cups whole milk

4 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1 cup roasted pistachios (shelled)

mini chocolate chips (optional)

1) Combine milks, 2 tbsp sugar, and vanilla and almond extract in a bowl. Whisk until well blended

2) In the food processor, combine shelled pistachios and remaining 2 tbsp sugar. Pulse until finely ground. Add ground pistachios to liquid mixture, and refrigerate at least one hour, but preferably overnight. 

3) Add liquid mixture to ice cream maker, and follow churning instructions. Add chocolate chips when mixture is partially frozen, about half way through, so the churning action mixes them thoroughly into the mixture.

4) When done churning, (20 minutes with my machine) remove from ice cream bowl, place in Tupperware container, and transfer to the fridge. Let rest for at least one hour before serving.

Roasted Beet Fudge Cupcakes

We are drowning in vegetables thanks to our CSA. It has been fun trying to find new ways to make veggies that I would never have sought out to buy myself, but I enjoy none the less. So far I have made a lot of pasta salad type dishes, a lot of salads, a lot of veggie fries, and a lot of veggie covered pizzas. This week I also made senposai hand pies (adapted from this recipe) which were delicious and made great reheatable lunches this week.

I also have been trying to incorporate what we have into baked goods and deserts, to get a little variety. I have tried to make brownies with roasted beets in the past, and while I enjoyed them, they definitely had a strong earthy flavor. This time around was much more successful, which I credit to using golden beets instead of the typical red ones. Golden beets are an awesome bright orange color when raw, and they supposedly have a much more mild flavor than the red ones.

The first step is to wash and peel your beets, followed by roasting them. I put them in some tin foil, drizzled a little bit of olive oil on top, and then wrapped the package up and stuck it in the oven at 375 degrees for about an hour, or until the beets are nice and soft.

Once the beets come out of the oven, take the whole package and put it in the refrigerator to chill, preferably in a bowl to catch some of the juice that might leak out. If you open the foil a bit it will probably cool faster, but they can get messy. Once the beets have reached room temperature, throw them in the food processor and blend until creamy. The recipe uses 1/2 cup of this mixture, and the rest can be frozen in a ziplock for future baked goods, or stirred into a mac and cheese. 2 good sized beets gave me about 1/2 cup of puree.

This mixture is combined with buttermilk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. Then flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt are sifted in and mixed until there are no large lumps remaining. The batter still had a distinctly beet like smell which went away once they were cooked. I unfortunately ran out of paper muffin cups, but I sprayed the muffin tin heavily with Pam and they came out with out too much of a fight.

I like to ladle my cupcakes using a measuring cup, so that they all turn out roughly the same size. Bake for just over 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to let cool completely.

They are good on their own, like a dense cakey brownie, but even better when topped with cream cheese frosting. I stuck cream cheese in the mixing bowl, then poured in powdered sugar while blending until the consistency seemed about right. I love my kitchenaid stand mixer, but I find hand mixers to be much better for making frosting. I then continued to beat the cream cheese for about 5 minutes on a high speed to incorporate some air and make it nice and fluffy. 

picture

Someone teach me to frost cupcakes nicely? I admit I care more for delicious than I do for pretty.

Roasted Beet Fudge Cupcakes

1/2 cup of roasted beets, blended
1 cup milk (I used heavy cream the first time, and 2% the second time, and both were delicious)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

1) Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the milk and vinegar in a bowl or measuring cup, and let sit to curdle. Combine the sugar, oil, vanilla, beets and milk and mix until foamy.
2) Add the dry ingredients slowly to the mixer while running to avoid clumps. Mix until no large lumps remain. Mixture will be a runny batter
3) Pour into a lined or greased muffin pan and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4) Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Coat with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or your favorite icing once cool.

Inspiration recipe here