BOOZA ‘ALA FISTUQ
LEBANON
Arabic, Turkish, and Iranian ice creams have a completely different texture from that of Italian gelato or other Western ice creams. In many cases, there isn’t even cream in the mixture, simply milk that is thickened with salep, a powder ground from the dried tubers of orchids that grow in Turkey and Iran. I love the thick stretchy texture that salep gives to ice cream, which makes you feel as if you are chewing on it rather than letting it melt in your mouth. However, it is almost impossible to get salep outside of the Middle East and you may need to make this ice cream with cornstarch. If you find salep, make sure it is good-quality pure salep, which is grayish in color, and slightly flecked. The whiter the powder, the more likely it is mixed with cornstarch.
MAKES JUST OVER 4 CUPS (1 LITER)
⅔ cup (100 g) pistachios
4 cups (1 liter)whole milk
1 cup (200 g) raw cane sugar
1 tablespoon salep or 2 tablespoons cornstarch
1¼ cups (300 ml) crème fraîche
3 tablespoons rose water
½ teaspoon ground mastic (see Glossary)
1. Place the pistachios very loosely in a zip-seal plastic bag. Seal and place on a cutting board. With a rolling pin, beat on the pistachios to crack them. Break the nuts unevenly with some large pieces and others very small.
2. Put the milk and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium heat and at the same time, add the salep, little by little and in very small quantities, whisking all the time—if you do not do this, you will get lumps in the milk. If you are going to use cornstarch, mix it with a little milk and add as you put the milk over the heat, whisking all the time as with the salep. After the milk starts boiling, carry on whisking for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the milk has thickened.
3. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large measuring cup or a large bowl with a spout. Add the crème fraiche, crushed pistachios, and rose water and whisk until the cream is fully incorporated. Add the mastic little by little, quickly whisking it in the mixture. Mix well. Let cool, then refrigerate to chill so that it takes less time to churn it into ice cream.
4. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s instructions. (If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture in a freezer container and place in the freezer. Whisk every hour or so, for 6 to 8 hours, or until the ice cream has reached the desired consistency.) Serve as is or scatter a few dried rose petals over the ice cream before serving.
SAFFRON ICE CREAM: To turn this ice cream into a saffron one, with or without the pistachios, sprinkle 2 or 3 good pinches of saffron threads into the milk and let them steep in the milk for 30 minutes. Then make the ice cream as directed.