Many apartment buildings in Paris, including mine, have a gardienne. Although their official duties are accepting deliveries and overseeing maintenance, they’re equally famous for being a steady (and remarkably reliable) source of gossip about your neighbors. My gardienne is Madame André, who has young children, so she was always quite happy to accept ice cream while I churned out recipes for this book. Of all the ice creams I gave her, this was her absolute favorite, and she went into Gallic raptures whenever she saw me for days and days afterward. I should probably recommend her for a job as my publicist too, since shortly thereafter I got a reputation in the building as being L’Américain qui fait des glaces, toujours! (the American who makes ice cream, all the time!). If you’re a rice pudding lover, this is the ice cream for you. And be sure to spread the word.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 1 1/4 quarts (1 1/4 liters)

　　1/2 cup (100 g) Italian Arborio rice

　　3 cups (750 ml) whole milk

　　3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

　　Pinch of salt

　　1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

　　Two 1-inch-wide (3-cm) strips of orange zest

　　5 large egg yolks

　　1 cup (250 ml) half-and-half or cream

　　Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

　　

Step 1

To cook the rice, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a 2-quart (2-liter) baking dish, stir together the rice, milk, 1/4 cup (50 g) of the sugar, and the salt. Add the vanilla bean and strips of orange zest. Cover the dish snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

　　

Step 2

Remove the rice from the oven and remove the foil. 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. There should be about 1/2 inch (2 cm) of milk covering the rice.

　　

Step 3

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. Then whisk in the half-and-half or cream and nutmeg.

　　

Step 4

Purée half of the rice mixture in a blender or food processor until chopped quite fine, then stir it back into the cooked rice.

　　

Step 5

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

　　

Perfect Pairing

Step 6

Sour Cherries in Grand Marnier are perfect over Rice Gelato. 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. Heat until the liquid comes to a full boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand until cool. Spoon the cherries over the Rice Gelato.

　　

What’s Gelato?

Step 7

In my quest to learn more about gelato, I talked with Italian food expert Maureen Fant, who lives in Rome. She explained that gelato is simply the Italian name for ice cream. More generally, gelato means “frozen” and can refer to any frozen dessert churned with milk or cream.

　　

Step 8

Italian gelato is usually less sweet than traditional ice cream, and it is very thick and somewhat sticky. One reason for its distinctively dense texture is that very little air is whipped into it. If you peer into the special machines used in Italy for churning gelato, you’ll 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. The freezers used to hold gelato in Italy are also kept at a slightly higher temperature—around 10°F (-12°C)—to keep it soft, whereas regular ice cream is stored at 0°F (-18°C).

　　

Step 9

Although some gelatos do have egg yolks, they are often thickened with a starch instead. The result is a chewy gelato that tastes less rich than a custard-based one made with eggs. 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.

　　

Step 10

In most Italian cities, gelaterias are everywhere you look. Some are great, and some are ordinary. Always look for a place crammed full of Italians, since they’re very passionate about their gelato and don’t tolerate anything but the best. One thing almost all Italians agree on is that gelato is best eaten from a cone while walking. But as in everything Italian, there’s 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.

　　Cooks' Note

　　It’s best to serve this ice cream the same day you churn it, or remove it from the freezer at least 5 to 10 minutes before you plan to scoop it, so the grains are chewy-soft.

　　The Perfect Scoop