Place milk, cream, and sugar into a heavy medium saucepan.

Place the mixture over medium-high heat and whisk constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Do not allow mixture to boil.

Remove from heat and pour mixture into a heatproof bowl set over an ice water bath. Whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts until well blended.

Allow the mixture to cool for approximately 10 minutes and then remove bowl from over ice water bath and cover bowl with plastic wrap.

Chill in the refrigerator until completely cold.

Process the gelato in an ice cream maker.

While the gelato is processing, make the chocolate shards.

Line a sheet pan with wax paper. Spread the melted chocolate thinly over the wax paper using a small offset spatula.

Chill until chocolate is hard.

Roll the wax paper until the chocolate breaks into shards or tiny pieces. If the wax paper tears, just break the chocolate away from it. Place the chocolate shards in a bowl.

Once the gelato is processed, pour it into a large mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, quickly fold in the shards of chocolate and the marcona almonds.

Pack the mixture into an airtight container and freeze overnight.