pistachio ice cream

One of my favorite ice cream flavors is pistachio.  It reminds me of my teenage summers spent in Palos Verdes with my cousins Angie and Raymond, when we used to go down to the local Thrifty's and get a double-scoop cone for like 35 cents.  Those were the days.

I found myself craving pistachio ice cream one day, and though I wanted to try David Lebovitz's recipe for pistachio gelato, I didn't have any pistachio cream, and had no idea where to buy it.  So I had to settle for another recipe which I found on Epicurious, which instead uses pistachios that have been ground up in the food processor.

The ground pistachios are used to make a hot pistachio-milk-egg custard, which is then strained and then chilled in the refrigerator before churning.  Then I added a handful of coarsely chopped pistachios during the last five minutes of churning.

It turned out to be a very delicious pistachio ice cream, creamy and full of pistachio flavor.  And it brought me right back to those long summer days with my cousins.