Sweet Corn Gelato

This one is for the adventurous – the recipe comes from Mario Batali’s restaurant, Otto.

2 ears sweet corn

1 quart milk

½ cup heavy cream

1 ½ cups sugar

8 egg yolks

1 tsp salt

Slice the kernels off the cobs, and break the cobs into 3-4 pieces. Place the pieces and the kernels in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the milk and bring to a simmer. Remove the pan from heat, and steep for 30 minutes.

Remove the cob pieces, and use a blender to break up the milk-kernel mixture. Pass the mixture through a coarse sieve, reserving the milk, and discard the corn.

Bring the milk, the heavy cream and ½ the sugar to a simmer in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Whisk the remaining sugar, the egg yolks and the salt in a metal bowl. Slowly add some of the hot milk to the yolks, whisking constantly to slowly warm the eggs. Add the tempered yolks to the saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture thickens slightly.

Remove the pan from the heat, and strain the custard into a bowl. Chill immediately by placing the bowl in a slightly larger bowl filled with ice, stirring quickly to promote fast, even cooling.

Store the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, then process it an ice-cream maker.

Serves 6 (makes approx. 5 cups).