Persian Ice Cream with Saffron & Rosewater

Let it be known that I am a bit snobbish when it comes to ice cream.  I simply love gelato.  American ice cream on the other hand? I am not too fond of. I will eat it, but the truth is that for me gelato is so much better. It is important to say that the gelato that I am talking about is not the type that you buy here. Oh NO! I am talking about the real thing, the one made on Italian soil. You don’t believe me that the gelato in Italy tastes better? Just ask The Sous Chef. Before we set foot in Italy I swore that I was going to have gelato every day. He thought I was blowing smoke out of my behind when I kept on telling him that there is no gelato like Italian gelato…until he had  his first taste of real Italian gelato. Guess who actually ended up having gelato every day? That’s right The Sous Chef!

Now that I have established my love for gelato, I also would like to share with you all that Persian Ice Cream holds a very special place in my heart. I love the fact that every bite is a delicious blend of saffron and rosewater.  And I love it even more when the ice cream is placed between two wafers and eaten like a sandwich. YUM!

Today’s recipe is my **own** homemade version of Persian Ice Cream. It is sooo soo good and I am proud to say that it is my second attempt at making ice cream. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we have here!!!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 cup of cream

1/2 cup of sugar + 1 tsp

1 pinch of sugar

3 tbsp of rosewater

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup of shelled pistachios

In a sauce pan add sugar and milk.

Then add cream and warm it all up on medium heat.

Give it a stir to make sure that the sugar dissolves. Make sure it does not boil. Once the mixture is nice and hot turn it off and remove from the stove.

Place 1 tsp of sugar with saffron in a small mortar and grind until the saffron threads turn into powder.

Add the sugar and saffron to the milk mixture. Add rosewater. Give it all a stir. Let it cool down. Place in the fridge for 4 hours or over night.

During the time that the mixture rests the flavors will blend. So make sure you don’t skip this step. Warm up the mixture on low heat.

Taper in the egg yolks. This is a very important step as you don’t want to cook the eggs.  Place the eggs in a separate bowl. Slowly pouring in some of the hot mixture while continuously stirring. Then slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the warm pan.  Make sure that you stir constantly until the mixture thickens. This should take about 10 minutes.

Place some ice and water in a bowl and then add another bowl on top of it. Then place a strainer on top.  You might want to do this before you place the egg yolks in the hot mixture allowing for the smaller bowl to get nice and cold.  Strain the mixture and let it completely cool down.

Place the mixture in the ice cream maker along with the pistachios and follow the manufacturer’s directions.

Once the ice cream freezes remove it and place it in a air tight container. The ice cream is ready at this point. But I like to freeze mine for a couple of hours before eating.  This recipe makes 1 pint of ice cream.