Gianduja Stracciatella Gelato

Say "jyan-do-ah stra-cha-te-la".

That's a mouthful, isn't it?

And oh what a mouthful it is!
Creamy nutty cold smoothness punctuated with streaks of bittersweet chocolate.
As they say in Italy, squisito.

I made this incredible gelato yesterday, using a recipe from my most recent cookbook purchase, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. David, a former pastry chef, has an enviable life in Paris - baking, cooking, blogging, writing, eating. Can't think of much that's better than that!

It was a steamy day and I craved something sweet and chilly. A popsicle just wasn't going to do it.
Looking through the book, there were so many choices, but this one caught my eye. It sounded a lot like Nutella, which as you know, is a favorite in our house.

You will need an ice cream maker of course. I've been using this Cuisinart model for years. It's inexpensive and so easy even a child can do it. ( I have often encouraged this, but she hasn't taken the hint yet.)

Making this gelato is a bit more complicated than your average ice cream recipe. There's quite a few saucepans involved, a couple of bowls, more than one strainer, toasting of nuts and some waiting time.
But I promise you, it's worth it!

Be sure to use the good stuff.
The best chocolate you can find (I used Black & Green, plus Scharffen Berger) and real dairy cream (try to find something local that hasn't had thickeners added).

The coolest ( and most delizioso) thing about this is the straciatella, which are the streaks of chocolate. It's the idea of chocolate chips but in a sophisticated Italian style. I'd had them before in vanilla gelato, but I never knew how it was made. Actually it's the simplest part of the recipe. See below for instructions.

Gianduja Gelato with stracciatella,

adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see note)

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. sea salt, or other coarse salt

4 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped

5 large egg yolks

Place toasted, skinned hazelnuts in a food processor and finely chop.

In a saucepan, warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar and salt. Once warm, remove from the heat and add chopped hazelnuts to the saucepan. Cover, and let sit for an hour at room temperature.

Put the milk chocolate pieces in a large bowl. In another saucepan, heat the remaining cup of cream just until it boils. Pour the cream over the milk chocolate and stir until it's completely melted and smooth. Set a mesh strainer over the top then place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water.

Pour the hazelnut-infused mixture through a strainer into a medium saucepan, pressing on the nuts firmly, making sure to extract as much of the liquid as you can. Discard the hazelnuts.

Rewarm this mixture gently. (How do you know when it's just warm? Stick your finger in it.)

In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the warm hazelnut-milk mixture into the egg yolks, then scrape the whole thing back into the saucepan.

Place the saucepan on medium heat and stir constantly with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spatula.

Now, pour the custard through the strainer that's placed over the milk chocolate and stir it in until well-combined and cooled. (I had to press on it quite a bit with the spatula to help it through the strainer.)

Chill the mixture thoroughly in your refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

To make the stracciatella, melt 5 oz. finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate in a bowl set in a saucepan of simmering water (or a double boiler). Stir until it is completely smooth.

To add it to the gelato, drizzle the warm chocolate in a very thin stream directly into the ice cream maker, while it is still running, but just at the very last moment before it is done. You'll be able to see it harden into chocolate streaks.

You may want to eat it all at this very moment.

Go ahead, at least lick the dasher.

But put the rest in a plastic container and freeze for at least an hour or so.

If you can.

Note: To toast hazelnuts, preheat oven to 350. Spread the nuts in an even layer on a baking sheet.

Bake the nuts for 10-15 minutes, stirring them once or twice while baking so they toast evenly. Let them cool completely before using in a recipe.

To skin the hazelnuts, rub them, while still warm, inside a clean dishtowel. This will remove much of the papery skin. Don't worry about getting it all off.