Pistachio ice cream

Serves 8-10 Desserts and puddings

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Method

Put the pistachios and caster sugar into a blender and process until very finely ground (the ice-crushing setting is good to use). Leave in the machine.

Put the milk and cream in a saucepan and heat gently until bubbles start to appear around the sides of the pan. Pour a little of this mixture onto the pistachios and process again (use the smoothie setting on the blender to get a fine texture). Add a little more liquid and continue in the same way until it has all been used up. Tip into a large jug to cool and macerate for a few hours.

Churn the mixture in an ice-cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions, or alternatively use the ‘still freeze' method below.

Still freeze method

Pour into a freezer-proof container so you have a 3cm clearance from the mixture to the top of the container and freeze for 2 hours. Using a fork, dig into the frozen edges and corners and mix into the slushy centre, then, with electric hand beaters, whisk until broken up and all the same texture. Refreeze for another few hours and then repeat the process and freeze a further 2 hours. Break up and put in a food processor and whizz again, until really smooth. Put in a freezer-proof container and freeze for 4 hours.

If longer and it’s frozen hard, just bring it to a scoop-able state by chilling for around 20 minutes.