-
1
To cook the rice, preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
-
2
In a 2-quart (2-liter) baking dish, stir together the rice, milk, 1/4 cup (50 g) of the sugar, and the salt.
-
3
Add the vanilla bean and strips of orange zest.
-
4
Cover the dish snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.
-
5
Remove the rice from the oven and remove the foil.
-
6
Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar, then continue to bake the rice, uncovered, for another 30 minutes, until it is tender.
-
7
There should be about 1/2 inch (2 cm) of milk covering the rice.
-
8
Remove the rice from oven, remove the vanilla bean (it can be rinsed and saved for another use), and briskly whisk in the egg yolks all at once.
-
9
Then whisk in the half-and-half or cream and nutmeg.
-
10
Puree half of the rice mixture in a blender or food processor until chopped quite fine, then stir it back into the cooked rice.
-
11
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.
-
12
Sour Cherries in Grand Marnier are perfect over Rice Gelato.
-
13
For about 6 servings, combine 3/4 cup (90 g) dried sour cherries, 6 tablespoons (90 ml) Grand Marnier, 2 tablespoons water, and 3 tablespoons (45 g) sugar in a small, nonreactive saucepan.
-
14
Heat until the liquid comes to a full boil.
-
15
Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand until cool.
-
16
Spoon the cherries over the Rice Gelato.
-
17
In my quest to learn more about gelato, I talked with Italian food expert Maureen Fant, who lives in Rome.
-
18
She explained that gelato is simply the Italian name for ice cream.
-
19
More generally, gelato means frozen and can refer to any frozen dessert churned with milk or cream.
-
20
Italian gelato is usually less sweet than traditional ice cream, and it is very thick and somewhat sticky.
-
21
One reason for its distinctively dense texture is that very little air is whipped into it.
-
22
If you peer into the special machines used in Italy for churning gelato, youll find a slowly spinning drum with a paddle that systematically moves up and down, scraping the gelato off the sides as it turns and freezes, rather than the rapidly spinning dasher used for American ice cream production.
-
23
The freezers used to hold gelato in Italy are also kept at a slightly higher temperaturearound 10F (-12C)to keep it soft, whereas regular ice cream is stored at 0F (-18C).
-
24
Although some gelatos do have egg yolks, they are often thickened with a starch instead.
-
25
The result is a chewy gelato that tastes less rich than a custard-based one made with eggs.
-
26
Faith Willinger, who writes about Italian cuisine in Florence, told me that thickening gelato with a starch is a Sicilian trait, and it is done because egg yolks are less digestible than starch, important during their hot summers.
-
27
In most Italian cities, gelaterias are everywhere you look.
-
28
Some are great, and some are ordinary.
-
29
Always look for a place crammed full of Italians, since theyre very passionate about their gelato and dont tolerate anything but the best.
-
30
One thing almost all Italians agree on is that gelato is best eaten from a cone while walking.
-
31
But as in everything Italian, theres lots of lively debate on this point, and at Il Gelato di San Crispino, one of the top gelaterias in Rome, the Alongi brothers, who make the gelato, believe cones to be unhygienic and insist on serving their gelato in stiff paper cups.
