Getting to noyau you: noyau ice cream

Ciao Ragazzi.  Before presenting this recipe, Annalena would like to just set forth some information that may be important to at least some of you.  First, it is an ice cream recipe, so you will need an ice cream maker to prepare it.  Second, it involves an odd ingredient, and it means you will have to collect something as you eat it: the pits of apricots, and some of  you may not be willing to do that.  Third, you will have to use some true elbow grease in preparing the recipe. 
If she has not scared you off yet, Annalena does beg you to continue, for even if you never make this, you will learn some culinary history,  some chemistry, and perhaps even have a recipe for when you do have that ice cream maker.
Noyau.  Or, in the plural, noyaux.  Annalena is far from literate, let alone fluent, in French.  She learned from those far better at that language than she, that "noyau" is a pit, or a seed.  And while that is the general meaning, "noyau" is almost always used to refer to the pits of stone fruits:  peaches, plums, apricots, cherries.  AND... the noyau is not, strictly speaking the pit.  What is is?  Well,  Annalena is sure that you have experienced the situation when you eat a  peach, and the pit splits open. There is a small, almond shaped kernel in that pit.  Does that sound familiar?  Are you shaking  your head yes?

That , ragazzi, is a noyau.  And it looks like an almond for a reason:  at one time, it WAS an almond.

See, stone fruits, and almonds, are related.  You would see this more clearly, if you saw almonds when they grow.  They do not grow as those little hard nuts we all love, nor do they grow as the nut in the shell we can sometimes buy.  No, they start as very small, hard, green fruits:  almost like... unripe peaches.  It does not take long for that green exterior to harden into a shell, but for the two weeks or so that it takes, those who enjoy these green almonds (Annalena does not), have themselves a veritiable feast day.  And so, by seeing it, you see that the nut we call an almond, is actually the seed (the noyau), of a fruit. 

It will probably not surprise you that since they look like almonds, noyaux actually do have an almond flavor.  And they have some rather serious culinary uses.  Annalena understands, but has never tasted, that there is a noyaux liqueur available in France, tinted red , interestingly enough.  Perhaps you did not know that "amaretti," those lovely hard and crunchy Italian cookies we all love, are NOT made with almonds.  They are classically made with BITTER almonds,  BUT... bitter almonds carry a toxin, and most countries will not permit the importation of anything using bitter almonds.  So.... Annalena's countrymen, crafty as they are, use the noyaux from stone fruit, to make the cookies.  If you think about how much fruit is used in a good restaurant, in season, or in canning factories, etc, you will understand that, indeed, there is a source of what would be treated as a waste product, and is, ultimately, used to make something wonderful.

You've learned a lot already, haven't you?  Ah, but it is going to continue.  The toxin, in bitter almonds, is prussic acid.  It is also present in the kernels of stone fruit, but there is a very easy way to eliminate it, if you are worried.  (you should not be, by the way: the amount of noyaux we will use here is trivial).  If you bake fruit stones, for fifteen minutes at 350,  you will destroy the prussic acid.  And you will make it much easier to extract the noyaux themselves. 

So, let us go forward.  Theoretically, you can make this recipe with any stone fruit.  Practically, apricots are all that work.   Peach stones are too large to crack, effectively at home.  Cherries?   Oh, dear.  You would need somewhere on the order of 100 of them to make this ice cream, and picking the tiny noyau out of the cherry pit debris, is not for those with less than saintly patients (Incidentally, there is a Middle Eastern spice, called mahlab, made from ground cherry pits. Annalena is not a fan). Plums SHOULD work, but they don't.  It seems that they are too small.  So, just like Goldilocks, Annalena finds apricot pits "just right."

To make a quart of this lovely, unusual ice cream, you need 24 apricot pits. That is about 3 pounds worth, and if you eat fruit in season, you will have this.  Simply put them aside as you eat the fruit, and when you have 24:  MAKE ICE CREAM.

As noted, above, put them on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 350.    Then let them cool.  If you like, for comparison purposes, save one pit, unbaked, and see the difference fifteen minutes can make.

When they are cool, you must crack them.  You can use a  nutcracker, which is neater, but rough on your hands, especially if, like Annalena, you are borderline arthritic.  She uses, instead, her meat pounder  (no jokes, please).  A good, solid THWAP on each one will releasae the noyau.  Probably not in whole form, which is good, because you want to grind them up just a bit anyway.

Do try to pick them out of the broken shells, but you need not be a surgeon at this.  You will have another chance to clear them out later.

OK, so now you have your noyaux.  Place them in a pot, and add two cups of heavy cream.  Bring it just to the boil, turn it off, cover it, and go away for 30-45 minutes.  When you come back, smell the cream.  You will get a very almondy odor that is somewhat intoxicating.  It will remind you of... amaertti, or  perhaps, amaretto liqueur.  If you like, you may strain the cream at this point, but there is no need to do so, and if you leave the material in, you will get a stronger flavor.  Add a full cup of sugar, and then a cup of milk. Finally, six egg yolks, and then cook this, until you have a custard that coats the back of a spoon, as with any other ice cream.  Chill it overnight if you can, or at least until it is cold.

NOW it is time to strain the stuff.  Right over a colander, and into your ice cream maker.  The custard is white, so you will be able to pick out any detritus.  And then get to work.  "To everything, churn, churn churn " (which was the title for this piece before Annalena tossed it in favor of the musical theatre reference).

Annalena GUARANTEES   you that you have never tasted anything like this.  If you make it, you will make it again.  And if you don't make it, you will be heading to the home of your friends with ice cream makers and asking "can you?  would you?" 

Put this on a plate with some dessert made with stonefruit, or berries, or anywhere you would want some almondy goodness.

The clever among you will be seeing pudding, custard, panna cotta, and so forth on your horizons as well.  If you are, Annalena is pleased. So, perhaps you do NOT need an ice cream maker.  Just a nice, strong meat pounder.  And after all, we all have one of those, don't we?

Alla prossima carissimi.