In Kristen Kish Cooking, the star chef gives us tips for her essential techniques and provides recipes inspired by her unique upbringing.
Typically when I plan private dinners, I rarely repeat recipes I’ve cooked before. I’m always confident that any idea I have can be executed and never nervous to try new things on new diners. That’s what I love and thrive on. Normally, in a professional kitchen, I use a Pacojet to make ice cream in no time at all. It’s an industrial (and incredibly expensive) machine that takes a frozen-solid ice cream base and whips it into smooth ice cream in seconds. There’s no way I would buy one for home (nor do I expect you to). For a particular dinner in Boston’s South End, we couldn’t get our hands on a Pacojet, so my sous chef Robeisy brought her commercial ice cream maker from home, which I thought would be fun to try for a change! But hours later, the custard was still soup. So, a dessert that was meant to be ice cream became a tea-infused crème anglaise instead. And it was still delicious! The moral of the story: You can enjoy these flavors and textures whether or not you own an ice cream maker. And never be afraid to try something new!
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, cream, sugar, tea leaves, and corn syrup to a heavy simmer over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and allow the tea to steep for 15 minutes, so that some of the astringency of the tea is drawn out; this will balance out the inherent sweetness of the ice cream.
- While the tea is steeping, whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl. When 15 minutes have elapsed, strain the tea leaves from the milk mixture. Return the milk mixture to the saucepan and simmer for 20 seconds, then slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs while whisking constantly.
- Clean your saucepan, and return the custard to the saucepan. Next clean out your egg bowl and set it aside. Prepare an ice bath.
- Over medium-low heat, stir the custard constantly with a spatula until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Do not boil. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve into the reserved clean bowl, set it over the ice bath, and stir a few times to help the custard cool.
- Once cool, refrigerate until cold, then pour it into an ice cream maker. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to churn ice cream. Transfer it to a lidded container and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 5 days.
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat, dry-toast the rice until it’s golden brown and has a nutty fragrance, 15 to 20 minutes. (You could do this on a sheet pan in the oven, but I like being able to move the rice around in a pan regularly rather than having to open and close the oven several times.) Allow the rice to cool.
- Put the toasted rice into a medium saucepan and combine with the water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the water has been fully absorbed, about 20 minutes.
- Next add the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, orange zest, and orange juice. Simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and finish the pudding by stirring in the butter, egg yolk, and salt to taste. I like to serve the rice pudding warm for a temperature contrast with the ice cream, but enjoy it hot or chilled.
- Discard the vanilla bean pod. Spoon ½ cup of rice pudding into each deep, narrow bowl. Place a quenelle of ice cream right in the middle of the rice pudding. Lay a few orange suprêmes around the ice cream. Garnish with rice cracker shards, if using, and 4 or 5 tiny mint leaves.
Reprinted from Kristen Kish Cooking. Copyright © 2017 by Kristen Kish. Photographs copyright © 2017 by Kristin Teig. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
