Pistachio Ice Cream for Portokalopita

This was homemade Pistachio Ice Cream.

As a part of our Greek foods adventure, I baked Portokalopita, or Greek Orange Pie again. I had made fresh fig ice cream for my first Portokalopita, which was suitable to our Greekish feast because figs are an ancient fruit grown in Greek, even mentioned in Greek mythology.

Actually at that time J had suggested pistachio ice cream. I had thought it would be perfect. Pistachio would make a lovely color contrast to sunny orange, and its nutty flavor and chunky texture would complement the smooth citrus orange pie. Most importantly, pistachio has been cultivated in Greek, specially in Aegina Island since more than 100 years ago!

However, I was easily distracted with fresh cute figs when I found them at Whole Foods... So this time, I abode by the original idea: Pistachio.

With Greek yoghurt and evaporated milk, the ice cream was sweet milky but not heavy at all. I used only honey to sweeten ice cream to maximize the floral aroma. Of course, I added a generous amount of beautiful pistachio, which required the most time-consuming process: shelled, soaked in hot water, removed skins, roasted, and chopped, but was worthy. Finally, to tint the ice cream with pistachio's signature green, a tea spoon of Japanese green tea powder, Matcha was churned with altogether. I could tell the Matcha flavor slightly but it didn't break the "Greek" flow, rather, made a complete harmony.

In short, it was delicious!