My deeply satisfying attempt to re-create the classic French-Italian chestnut dessert in ice cream form, building on a slightly adapted recipe from well-known master chef Michel Roux Sr.
Ingredients
100 ml (slightly less than ½ cup) milk
300 gram sweetened chestnut puree
200 ml (sligthly less than 1 cup) (superfine grade, preferably) sugar
12 egg yolks
2-4 tablespoons rum (optional)
200 ml (slightly less than 1 cup) (preferably heavy) cream
(optional) 1 chestnut [marron] in syrup per serving
Some white meringues [of the stiff type; to be crushed and used as "snow"]
Instructions
Put milk, chestnut puree and 150 ml (slightly more than ½ cup) of the sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl until a light ribbon consistency.
Pour the boiling milk into the egg yolks-sugar mix, whisking constantly, then pour it all bacl into the sacue pan.
Over low heat, stir with a wooden spoon until the custard base lightly coats the back of the spoon. When you run your finger through it, it should leave a clear path that stays on the spoon .
Immediately take the sauce pan off the heat and pour the custard base into a bowl.
Add the rum now, if using.
Cool over ice, stirring occasionally to prevent the formation of a skin.
When cold, pass the custard through a strainer or equivalent and churn in an ice cream maker for 10-15 minutes.
At this point, when the base should have 'firmed up' quite a bit, pour the cream into the ice cream maker, in a slow stream.
Churn an additional 10 minutes or so: the finished ice cream should be firm but still creamy.
Optionally, for a decorative effect: Serve in cups, passing portion-sized amounts of the ice cream through a potatoe ricer (creating spaghetti-like strings). Sprinkle each portion with a little roughly crushed white meringue ("snow") and a candied chestnut ("marron glacé" on top.
Recipe by ICE CREAM NATION at https://www.icecreamnation.org/2014/10/chestnut-ice-cream-monte-blanc/