3/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
4 cups whole milk
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Directions:
One the day before you want to eat the gelato, allow the mint leaves to seep in the milk overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day: Pour the milk through a sieve into a saucepan. Scald the milk, then remove from heat. Meanwhile, beat the yolks and sugar together until fluffy. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the scalded milk, then add the egg/milk mixture into the remaining scalded milk. Return to heat on low, stirring occasionally and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain and refrigerate until cool. Add to a ice cream maker and churn until frozen and creamy. Remove to a freezer safe container and freeze until hard, about 1-2 hours. Allow to soften slightly before serving.
Yield: about 1 quart
My thoughts:
When we planted mint a few weeks ago I had it in the back of my mind that it might be fun to make some homemade mint ice cream. When it came down to it though, I decided to go the slightly lighter route and make gelato. Gelato is just as tasty but because it is made with whole milk and not heavy cream, has about a 1/3 of the fat. The slightly more subtle texture of gelato worked well with the fresh mint too, it ending up tasting very light and fresh rather than super rich, which really complimented the delicate flavor of the fresh mint. It was also exciting to use mint from the garden-it is the first “harvest” of the year!
This looks so refreshing…our temps have been up and down. Last week was unbearable–this would have been a perfect treat to have 🙂
j
MM, I’ve never had mint gelato, I always seem to opt for the chocolatey sinfully sweet options. The gelato looks incredibly yummy, and so does your granita from the previous post!
Rachel–I’ve never commented here before, but I’ve been subscribind to c&L for a while now and I love it! One quick question — how exactly do you scald milk? Like at what point is it scalded and not just boiling or burnt? Thanks!!!
To scald: bring it almost to boil-to the point there little bubbles form around the end of the pan. Basically you are just heating the milk to make it easier for the sugar to dissolve.
I just got a new ice cream maker and I can’t wait to give this a try!
wow. the idea of this really knocks my socks off . . . will have to give this one a whirl.
This sounds perfect!! I have been an ice cream addict lately – I may need to add this to my list of ice cream recipes to try!
This does look refreshing as Jasmine said. It also brings good memories of my stay in Italy. I used to have gelato every night. ;-)))
Paz
Sounds fabulous for summer! Yum!
Ah man, this makes me wish I had an ice cream maker…
I think I am on my way to buy an ice cream maker!
This looks and sounds delightful! I’ve never tried mint gelato before, but I *love* mint ice cream. I like that this would be a lower-fat option… So I could eat more – ha! ha!
My fear of polka dots made me shudder when I saw this. I really wanted to look at the recipe too, darn it.
Have you tried this with chocolate mint? it’s a variety of mint that tastes like a pepperming patty.
Fairfax: that is actually what i used!