Gelato alla Nocciola

It took me years to appreciate gelato alla nocciola. Chocolate, not hazelnut, was my flavor when I was a child. Eventually, I moved on to gianduja, which is sort of like chocolate for grownups ~ an inspired combination of mostly chocolate with a dollop of hazelnut paste mixed in to round out the flavor; after that came granita di caffè con panna (coffee granita with whipped cream), and granita di fragole (strawberry granita).

Finally, while visiting Puglia some years ago, I ordered a small cone of plain, unadulterated nocciola and found out instantly what I had been missing. The rich flavor of toasted nuts freshly churned with cold milk and cream was heaven, especially on a sweltering day in mid-July on the streets of Lecce.

One of the nicest things about gelato alla nocciola is that it hits the spot at any time of year, whether July or January. You need to be sure that you’re using top-quality nuts, either from Piemonte or, here in the U.S., from Oregon.

I used the pistachio gelato recipe from Williams-Sonoma Rustic Italian as my starting point--it calls for grinding the nuts yourself in a food processor rather than buying expensive nut paste. I took a bit of a detour after I spied a jar of Nutella on a kitchen cabinet shelf and decided to add a dollop to the gelato custard, so that in the end the gelato wasn't pure nocciola but more like an inverted gianduja recipe ~ mostly hazelnut with a bit of chocolate mixed in.

GELATO ALLA NOCCIOLA {Hazelnut Ice Cream}
Makes 1 quart

Ingredients
1 cup shelled hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see NOTE)
1 1/2 cups whole milk, plus 6 tablespoons
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for another use)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 cup Nutella, depending on your preference for more or less chocolate flavor

Instructions
1. Place the hazelnuts in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in 6 tablespoons of milk, enough to form a creamy paste, about 1 minute. Scrape the nut paste into a bowl. Alternatively, you can use a Vitamix to blitz the nuts and milk.

2. Heat the milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture is at a simmer, with tiny bubbles around the edges of the pan, remove it from the heat.

3. While the milk and cream are heating, combine the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale yellow and creamy (it will be dense; a handheld mixer helps). Whisk in the hazelnut oil 1 tablespoon at a time, if using. Slowly dribble in a small ladleful of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from cooking. Whisk in another ladleful of the hot milk mixture, then slowly whisk the egg mixture back into the hot milk. Stir in the hazelnut paste and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 15 to 20 minutes or until a custard forms that lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon or spatula. The custard should register 180° F (85° C) on an instant thermometer. Remove the custard from the heat and whisk in the Nutella until fully incorporated.

4. Transfer the custard to a bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate overnight. Freeze the custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. When thickened, spoon the gelato into a container with a tight-fitting lid, cover, and freeze until firm, about 4 hours. To serve, remove the gelato from the freezer and let sit for about 5 minutes before scooping into bowls.

NOTE: Many supermarkets carry packages of hazelnuts that have already been toasted and skinned. But it's not hard to do it yourself, and it's usually less expensive to buy them raw (and even less expensive if you buy them in the shell and shell them yourself). Heat the oven to 350° F. Spread the shelled hazelnuts out on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast for 10 to 15 minutes, until the skins have started to crack and the nuts are fragrant. Wrap the nuts in a clean kitchen towel and let them sit for 1 minute. Then rub the nuts in the towel to loosen and remove the skins. Let cool completely before using.