Recipe for Nutella Ice Cream from Giuliano Hazan's Hazan Family Favorites Cookbook

Before I share a recipe for Nutella Ice Cream from Giuliano Hazan's Hazan Family Favorites Cookbook, I'd like to share a bit of the back story.

I met Giuliano years ago when I assisted his cooking class at Sur La Table. He was soft spoken, yet clearly passionate about Italian cooking. He treated all students and assistants equally and was eager to share his knowledge of ingredients, techniques and recipes.

In fact, I still teach Giuliano's method of chopping an onion in my knife skills classes. Want to learn it? Holler ;)

When I joined Twitter, I started following Giuliano's wife, Lael, and quickly said yes when she offered me a copy of Hazan Family Favorites for review.

A few weeks ago I received a beautiful cookbook with enticing food photographs, touching family photos and recipes that span from pizza to semifreddo.

But where to start?

This past week I visited my family and friends in Seattle. The weather was stunningly sunny and warm, so I decided to make Nutella Ice Cream. Luckily, Anna's friend Naomi let me borrow her ice cream maker, and Anna let me have her bowls and ice cream scoop. The beautiful cutting board is from my brother Misha, who doesn't have a blog or a twitter account, but carved it himself!






Nutella Ice Cream
Reprinted with permission from Hazan Family Favorites
makes 1 quart

Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
4 ounces (1/4 cup) Nutella

Directions
1. Put the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. When the milk is hot enough to release steam when stirred, but not boiling, remove from the heat and pour the hot milk into a heatproof pitcher or cup with a spout.

2. While the milk is heating, put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and whip at high speed until the mixture is pale yellow, thick and creamy.

3. Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture while whisking on low speed. Once half the milk is added, you can begin to pour a little faster until all the milk is added. Add the Nutella and whip on medium speed until it is evenly incorporated.

4. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator. When it is cold, freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve right away or store, tightly covered, in the freezer. It should keep for sever days before ice crystals begin to form.

The ice cream was sweet and screamed NUTELLA. I thought the texture was closer to granita, sonext time I will try using heavy cream or half & half, and maybe adding an extra yolk to the mixture. Anna suggested adding roasted salted hazelnuts for a bit of texture and flavor contrast.

I'm looking forward to making more recipes from Giuliano's book and hope you will too!