Mango Gelato by Feeding a Crowd
There is something about gelato that is reminiscent of all that is good in life. Gelato still has dairy products, it is much like ice cream, but what the Italians did differently from us, is that they use more more flavour in their mixture to start with, there is a true concentration of whatever flavour you wish to use and that makes it lighter and more full flavoured in your mouth, a real party of the taste buds.
Before I start, let me tell you more about the machine I use for my frozen desserts. I use the Cuisineart Ice cream machine, why? Because I was listening to American's Test Kitchen and they said it was the best one in its category, in its price range and with a removable container. The container must be kept in the freezer to be able to use at any time. I have built trust in America's Test Kitchen over the years so I think they were probably right.
BTW. I love it, I wish though the ice cream would come our of the container more easily once the ice cream is made, it is also a bit loud, thankfully, it does not need to run for very long.
On to my family's favourite gelato recipe!
Mango Gelato by Feeding a Crowd
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ lbs. or 600 g. mango cubes (thawed if frozen)
½ mango nectar (found in your fresh produce section)
2 c. whole milk
1 c. sugar
¼ c. powdered milk
8 large egg yolks
1 c. half and half or 15% cream
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place the mango cubes in a food processor or blender and process till completely puréed. You should have approximately 2 ½ cups purée. Stir in the mango nectar and refrigerate while finishing the gelato mixture.
Place the milk, sugar and powdered milk in a heavy bottomed pan and heat on medium till it simmers and sugar is dissolved. Stir constantly. Keep warm on low heat.
Whip the egg yolks with a mixture or by hand till light in colour and thickened, about 2 minutes. Continue whisking while adding 1 cup of the hot milk mixture, do it slowly.
Stir the egg mixture back in the warm milk and raise the heat back to medium, using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir constantly and bring the mixture to 180°F or till it coats the back of your spoon. This becomes your custard base.
Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, add the light cream, reserved mango mixture and vanilla. Stir well to combine properly.
Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours before pouring it into your ice cream maker.
Let the machine churn the ice cream for at least 25 minutes, you can go up to 30 minutes or so before removing it from the frozen container into another container to which you will place in the freezer for at least 2 hours before using.
Note: When wish to eat the gelato after it has been in the freezer for more than 12 hours, it is important to remove it 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time, else it will be too hard to serve.
