Wonderful Pistachios

Find out how to make this St Patrick’s Day Paleo Pistachio Ice Cream with our exclusive recipe created by our friends at Pure Eats – Go Gourmet Paleo! Nothing beats green desserts on St. Patty’s Day.

For those of you who are in the know, paleo diets have become the lifestyle du jour among the CrossFit community and fitness fanatics.  The paleo diet is a modern nutritional plan based on the philosophy, “What would a caveman eat?”  Grains, legumes, dairy, salt, refined sugar and processed oils are big no no’s, although there are levels of modification.

One of the fun things about St. Patrick’s Day is being able to throw a fabulous party and making all of your desserts a ridiculous shade of green.  What dessert is better suited to be consumed on March 17th than pistachio ice cream?

“But how can you make ice cream without sugar or milk?” you may ask.  Well, thanks to our friends at Pure Eats – Go Gourmet Paleo, we’ve got a pistachio and coconut-based ice cream recipe so delicious you’ll be tempted to make it every weekend.  This is chock full of pistachios and all natural!  For true ice cream fanatics, this won’t have the same level of sweetness or consistency that you’re used to.  But for those who are adventurous foodies or looking for paleo recipes, this is a treat worth slaving over the ice cream maker for.

Thank you to Pure Eats – Go Gourmet Paleo for allowing me to taste a pint of the scrumptious pistachio ice cream for free and for being able to share the recipe with you all.  If you’d rather spend your time consuming ice cream rather than making it, and you live in West Los Angeles, you can also special order it by sending an email to Pure Eats – Go Gourmet Paleo directly.

Now let’s make some coconut and pistachio ice cream!

You will need
Rubber spatula
Whisk
Blender
Food processor
Bowls
Saucepot
Strainer
Ice cream machine

There are two parts to the ice cream. The pistachio paste and the custard sauce (creme anglaise).

Ingredients
1 can light coconut milk
1 can coconut milk
2 egg yolks
¾ cup date paste*
1 vanilla bean (2 inches long)
1¼ cup Wonderful Pistachios – Roasted & Unsalted
4 tsp fresh lemon juice

* Date Paste
1 cup pitted dates
Water as needed
- Blend until thick and paste-like consistency

Pistachio Paste
1. Chop ¼ cup of the shelled pistachios in a food processor. You want a fine powder with some chunks of pistachios.
2. Heat half the can of the full coconut milk with the ground pistachios. Simmer for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Place in a bowl and mix in 2 tablespoons of the date paste and chill.

Custard
1. Scrape the vanilla bean and the pod into the remaining coconut milk, including the light coconut milk, in a medium size saucepan. Heat just to boiling.
2. Remove from heat and whisk a few tablespoons of the cream into the yolk mixture. (Make sure to whisk the yolks first before pouring the cream). Then, gradually add back to the remaining cream, whisking constantly.
3. Heat the cream over medium heat just below boiling point. Do not boil or the eggs will curdle. Check to see if it is the right consistency by holding the spatula sideways that is covered with the custard and run your finger along the back of the spatula.  If the streak remains without the cream running down through the streak, it is ready.
4. Immediately remove from the heat and pour through the strainer into a bowl.
5. Mix in the lemon juice. Whisk in the date paste. Mix in the pistachio paste. Chill.
6. While this is chilling, Get Crackin’. You will need to chop 1 cup of pistachios. Then, mix into the ice cream mixture.

I like to refrigerate the mixture overnight for the flavors to fully develop.  Once it is chilled, it’s ready to go into the ice cream machine.

Yields 2 quarts