Chestnut Ice Cream with Chocolate Grand Marnier Sauce

prep time:: 45 min
total time:: 4 hr Freezing

Makes 2 quarts

Not that I’m completely updated on my geography and the agriculture of Norway - so I had to ask you if you even had chestnuts over there. Thank goodness you do!

ingredients

For ice cream
1 cup roasted, shelled, and skinned chestnuts (1/2 lb in shell or 7 ounces bottled whole, see cooks’ note, below)
3 cups whole milk
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (4-inch) strip fresh orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 teaspoon vanilla
For sauce
1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped (1 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 to 4 tablespoons Grand Marnier, or to taste
Special equipment:
an instant-read thermometer and an ice-cream maker

directions

1
Make ice cream:
2
*
3
Finely chop chestnuts and cook with 1 1/4 cups milk at a bare simmer in a large heavy saucepan, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Purée in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids).
4
*
5
Bring cream and remaining 1 3/4 cups milk just to a simmer in heavy saucepan and remove from heat.
6
*
7
Beat together yolks and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted.
8
*
9
Whisk 1/3 of hot cream mixture into yolk mixture to temper, then whisk yolk mixture into remaining cream mixture.
10
*
11
Whisk in chestnut purée and salt, then add zest. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not boil).
12
*
13
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a clean metal bowl and stir in vanilla. Set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool custard, stirring occasionally. Chill, surface covered with waxed paper, until cold, at least 3 hours.
14
*
15
Freeze custard in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.
16
Make sauce:
17
*
18
Bring cream just to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat and remove from heat. Add chocolate and butter, whisking until smooth. Whisk in Grand Marnier.
19
*
20
Serve ice cream with sauce.
21
Cooks’ notes:
22
* Custard can be chilled up to 24 hours.
23
* Nothing beats freshly roasted chestnuts for eating, but odds are you’ll cook with them more frequently if you use the already peeled, vacuum-packed kind. Two brands we particularly liked are Minerve and Eric Bur, which are available at specialty foods shops and some supermarkets.