Orange-Blossom Almond Frozen Yogurt

This recipe was inspired by Sarah, who came over with Doggie to keep me company for day one of my Labor Day cook-a-thon.  

As I cooked, Sarah and I talked about growing up in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Truth be told, there’s not a lot to be nostalgic for when you come from a place that is like some lunar airport, all chain restaurants and climate-controlled denial of the natural world.

But despite the air-conditioning, there are some things about the natural environment that humans haven’t been totally able to cover up.  

For example, the million-degree heat.  No matter how well you try to organize your life to always be in air-conditioning and covered parking, at some point, you are going to have to park outside in the sunshine.  And when you get back into your car, you are going to be reminded that you have made your home in an hostile environment that doesn’t give a single care that you just got a second-degree burn from touching the metal of your seat belt.

Besides the summer, there is another time when the natural world makes itself known, and this one is infinitely more pleasant.  Springtime is orange blossom time, and if chipotle peppers inspire huffing, I don’t know how to label the sort of orgy of smelling I want to participate in when the scent of the blossoms is in the air.

(Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Sarah and I spent a lot of time riding our bikes during our adolescent and teen years, which gave us plenty of opportunities to encounter this otherworldly aroma.  I used to bike at night for exercise, sort of, but really more as an opportunity to escape the tedium of being a teenager in the suburbs.  I made mixtapes with songs that made me think of stories I wanted to write or movies I wanted to make, and would go biking with my walkman at night because the darkness made the blandness recede and gave my imagination more space.  Nighttime also made the suburbs more interesting; no matter how ordinary the activities might actually be, there is something about peeking into lighted windows as you floated by in the dark that made everybody’s house seem to have much more David Lynchian possibility (this, to me, was and probably still is a good thing).

So that was sort of magical enough in its own way, but in springtime, with the extra-added element of occasionally hitting a wall of delicious orange blossom smell, it could be quite a heady experience.

I’ll have to do more research, but I think nostalgia for this smell might be a common factor amongst former Scottsdale dwellers.  I know Heather and I have spoken about it too, and years ago, I was thrilled when Heather gave me a room perfume spray she found in France that smelled precisely like the blossoms.

As Sarah mentioned the smell, I remembered that in one of my last trips to PFI, I had actually picked up a bottle of orange blossom water. 

I twisted off the cap, and yep, there was the smell.  Sarah and I both thought at the same time: ice cream.

Sarah tracked down a few recipes online, including this one from Desert Candy, source of the Beet Ice Cream recipe and other interesting ones from her 30 days of ice cream experiment.  I liked the sound of it, but caught sight of a bottle of bitter almond extract in my cabinet and thought that the sweet roundness of that flavor might be a good counterpart to the floaty floral note of the orange blossom.

I also thought that the Middle Eastern origin of the flavors might make them a good match for the kind of whole milk yogurt-based recipe like the Lime-Yogurt Sherbet.  So I used that method as a starting point, and came up with a recipe myself.

I was really proud of how it turned out, telling Sarah this is one of the first things I made up that has the 1+1=3 alchemy that I love to taste in the dishes from my favorite teachers at the cooking school.  I gave some of the finished product to Sarah and to new parents Amy and Owen.  Both Sarah and Owen commented that they really enjoyed it so I think this may be a solid recipe.

Orange-Blossom Almond Frozen Yogurt

2 tsp cornstarch
1 ¼ C sugar
1 ½ C whole milk
2 tsp almond extract
1 lg egg yolk
1 to 1 ½ Tbls orange flower water (start with the lower amount first and taste to see how you like the floral note)
2 cup whole milk yogurt (like Greek God)
¾ C finely chopped blanched almonds

Whisk together cornstarch and 1 cup of the sugar in a heavy saucepan, then whisk in milk slowly.  Bring to a boil over moderate heat, continuing to whisk.  Add almond extract and simmer for 2 minutes, whisking occasionally.

Whisk the remaining ¼ cup of sugar into the egg yolk.  Add the milk to the yolk in a slow stream, whisking constantly.  Return the milk mixture to the saucepan, and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula and/or a candy thermometer reaches 170 degrees.

Pour the custard through a mesh strainer into a clean bowl.  Add the orange flower water and yogurt and whisk to combine well.  Chill in refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding in chopped almonds at the point at which they recommend adding mix-ins.

 

Comments

[Owen]

So good ... so good. This recipe is definetly a keeper. Probably my favorite of the many wonderful, wonderful things you've made.