Raspberry, Pistachio, and Vanilla Semifreddo

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios
• ⅔ cup sugar + 4 tbsp sugar
• ⅓ cup whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean + 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or thawed raspberries
• 2 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• ¼ tsp. salt

Instructions

1. 1
   Make the pistachio base: Grind 1/2 cup of the pistachios with 2 tbsp. of the sugar in a food processor. Add the whole milk and purée until smooth and thick. Place this mixture in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. If there are still chunks of pistachios, you can run it through the food processor a second time if you wish. Fold the other half of the pistachios into this mixture, leaving them whole. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. 2
   Make the vanilla base: Place 1/2 cup of the whipping cream in a small saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out. Add the scraped seeds and pod into the saucepan with the cream. Heat the cream to just before it simmers and then remove from heat. Allow to steep for about 15 minutes, then remove and discard the empty vanilla pod. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. 3
   Make the raspberry base: Purée the raspberries and 2 tbsp. of the sugar together in a food processor. If you prefer to remove the seeds, you can strain this mixture over a fine-mesh strainer and discard the solids (this is optional). Stir the vanilla extract into this mixture. Set aside until ready to use.
4. 4
   Make the semifreddo base: Beat the eggs, egg yolks, and 2/3 cup sugar in a metal bowl on top of a saucepan with a few inches of gently simmering water (over medium heat). The bottom of the bowl should not touch the hot water. Beat the mixture constantly, preferably using a handheld electric mixer set on its highest speed. After about 4 minutes of beating, the egg and sugar mixture will have thickened, doubled in size, and reached a pale color. When it reads 170° on a thermometer, you can remove it from the heat. Place the bowl into a shallow pan filled with iced water and continue beating for another 3 minutes until the mixture is cool and quite thick. (Don't allow any water to get into the mixture). Whip the remaining 1 1/2 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form. Once the egg and sugar mixture is fully cooled, incorporate the whipped cream and gently fold the two together until uniform.
5. 5
   Divide the semifreddo base equally into 3 parts and fold each third gently into the raspberry base, then the pistachio base, and then the vanilla base. Refrigerate all 3 until ready to use.
6. 6
   Line a metal loaf pan (about 9 x 5 x 3") with parchment paper or plastic wrap. For parchment paper, cut two pieces of paper, one for the width and one for the length and criss-cross them on top of each other so there are no folds which would give your semifreddo a crinkled surface. First, pour the vanilla mixture into the pan and freeze until solid, about an hour. Pour the pistachio mixture on top of the frozen vanilla base and freeze for another hour. Finally, pour the raspberry mixture on top of the frozen pistachio base. If you wish, you can sprinkle on some additional whole raspberries before pouring the raspberry mixture, as I did in the video. However, the frozen raspberries can be tricky to slice across and can make the semifreddo slices a little messy. Freeze the whole semifreddo for 4 to 6 hours. This dessert can also be made several days in advance and removed from the freezer when ready to serve.
7. 7
   To serve the semifreddo, dip the bottom and sides of the loaf pan in a bit of hot water for a few seconds. Invert it onto a platter and peel off the paper or plastic lining. Cut it with a sharp knife into slices about 3/4 inch thick. (The knife can be dipped in hot water to help the slicing).