Makesabout 2 quarts ice cream
- Active time:45 min
- Start to finish:4 hr
November 2000
Chestnut ice cream? Topped with a chocolate-orange sauce, these scoops are too good to be missed.
For ice cream
-
1
cup
roasted, shelled, and skinned chestnuts (1/2 lb in shell or 7 ounces bottled whole, see cooks' note, below)
-
3
cups
whole milk
-
1 1/3
cups
heavy cream
-
6
large egg yolks
-
1 1/2
cups
packed dark brown sugar
-
1/4
teaspoon
salt
-
1
(4-inch) strip fresh orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
-
1
teaspoon
vanilla
For sauce
-
1
cup
heavy cream
-
6
ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped (1 cup)
-
2
tablespoons
unsalted butter
-
3
to 4 tablespoons Grand Marnier, or to taste
Make ice cream:
-
Finely chop chestnuts and cook with 1 1/4 cups milk at a bare simmer in a large heavy saucepan, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Purée in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids).
-
Bring cream and remaining 1 3/4 cups milk just to a simmer in heavy saucepan and remove from heat.
-
Beat together yolks and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted.
-
Whisk 1/3 of hot cream mixture into yolk mixture to temper, then whisk yolk mixture into remaining cream mixture.
-
Whisk in chestnut purée and salt, then add zest. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not boil).
-
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a clean metal bowl and stir in vanilla. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool custard, stirring occasionally. Chill, surface covered with waxed paper, until cold, at least 3 hours.
-
Freeze custard in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.
Make sauce:
-
Bring cream just to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat and remove from heat. Add chocolate and butter, whisking until smooth. Whisk in Grand Marnier.
-
Serve ice cream with sauce.
Cooks’ notes: - Custard can be chilled up to 24 hours.
- Nothing beats freshly roasted chestnuts for eating, but odds are you’ll cook with them more frequently if you use the already peeled, vacuum-packed kind. Two brands we particularly liked are Minerve and Eric Bur, which are available at specialty foods shops and some supermarkets.