Gelupo Gelato A Delectable Palette of Ice Cream Recipes • By Jacob Kenedy
Ricotta & Sour Cherry
Sour cherries are fêted across mainland Europe for their concentrated flavour and lip-smacking zing. The classic amarena gelato is simple fior di latte variegated with sour cherry conserve. Outside of the gelateria, sour cherries are most often served with a custard, or with ricotta - famously in the Jewish bakery Boccione, in Rome’s ghetto, where they serve sour cherry and ricotta pie blackened and warm from the oven. In honour of this, I make my amarena with a ricotta base, and I like it better than plain sour cherry - it has a subtle cheesecake complexity and richness. This gelato has become Gelupo’s signature, if there is one.
Ingredients
For the ricotta base (yields 1 litre)
170g granulated or caster sugar 30g skimmed milk powder
Stabiliser: 1 level teaspoon
locust bean gum powder;
or 2 tablespoons starch
(arrowroot or cornflour)
375ml whole milk
50g glucose (aka dextrose) syrup or powder, or light runny honey
200ml double cream
250g sheep’s milk ricotta
¼ teaspoon almond
extract (optional)
For ricotta & sour cherry gelato
Makes about 1 litre / 15 scoops
60g amarena variegato or 100g sour cherry jam or compote
(Tip: Amarena variegato is a sour cherry compote made for gelato - some brands, like Fabbri, are available online).
Method
To make the ricotta base
In a small bowl, stir the sugar, milk powder and stabiliser powder together thoroughly.
Put the milk and glucose or runny honey in a saucepan.
Heat gently until barely simmering.
Pour the contents of the bowl into the warm milk mixture in a steady stream, stirring as you go. Continue to stir until the mixture just returns to the boil, then remove from the heat.
Stir in the cream and leave the mixture to cool to about 50°C (just too hot to keep your fingertip in).
Add the ricotta and almond extract (if using) and blend until smooth.
Cover the base and leave to cool to room or fridge temperature. (It will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge if allowed to cool, then refrigerated immediately.)
To make the ricotta & sour cherry gelato
Churn the ricotta base in your ice-cream machine until fully firm.
Transfer the churned gelato to a freezer container and marble through the amarena variegato or sour cherry jam or compote
to ripple.
Before serving, put the ricotta and sour cherry gelato in the freezer for half an hour or so to firm up. If it has been stored in the freezer longer and is too firm, allow it to soften in the fridge until scoopable.
Aperol Granita
Aperitivo time - and the omnipresent spritz - is the Veneto’s gift to the world. You can make a great spritz with Aperol (the lurid orange one) or Campari, or perhaps best with Select. And every spritz has its corresponding granita - just use the recipe below and substitute the aperitivo of your choosing.
Ingredients
Makes about 1 litre (Serves 5-8)
500ml prosecco (or dry white wine)
300ml Aperol
200ml water
100g caster sugar
Method
In a bowl, stir all the ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to a wide dish and put it in the freezer.
Once it starts to freeze at the edges, every 10-15 minutes stir it with a fork or whisk it, until the mixture is almost completely frozen and icy (this will take a long time - perhaps four hours). It is ready to serve in this slightly wet, slushy state.
To keep it longer, let it freeze solid, then before serving take it out to thaw for 20 minutes or so, breaking it up with a fork.
(Chill your serving glasses for at least 20 minutes in the freezer before you serve.)
Variations
Substitute Campari or Aperitivo Select for the Aperol.
Substitute white port, red Ruby port or medium sherry for the Aperol and then also replace the prosecco with tonic water.
Replace both the Aperol and prosecco with sparkling Moscato d’Asti.
Bitter Chocolate
If ever you eat a chocolate, then want to clean your mouth out to taste something else, drink a sip of milk. The milk fat dissolves away the chocolate, just as it relieves the burn after eating a chilli; milk is the antithesis of chocolate. So, for those people who don’t like chocolate all that much - and in this case I am referring to bitter, black, sinful, alchemical chocolate that remembers its history with the bloodthirsty Aztecs and is more related to Ayahuasca than the dinner table, you’ll want to opt for a milk chocolate gelato. But if you want it bitter, ban milk and make this sorbet. Like the love potion of Montezuma, it’s not safe and it ain’t prudish.
Ingredients
Makes about 1 litre (15 scoops)
50g cocoa powder
200g granulated or caster sugar
500ml water
50g glucose (aka dextrose) syrup or powder, or light runny honey
250g dark chocolate (70%), chopped
Method
To make the bitter chocolate base
Mix together the cocoa powder and sugar in a smallish saucepan.
Slowly stir in the water, trying to avoid lumps (don’t worry if you get a few – they will cook out).
Add the glucose or runny honey, then set the pan over a medium heat and bring the mixture to the boil. As soon as it bubbles, remove the pan from the heat.
Add the chocolate and stir until melted and fully combined.
Cover the pan and leave the base to cool to room or fridge temperature. (It will keep for up to five days in the fridge if allowed to cool, then refrigerated immediately).
To make the bitter chocolate gelato
Blend the base (this helps the texture), then transfer it to your ice-cream machine and churn until properly firm.
Before serving, put the bitter chocolate gelato in the freezer for half an hour or so to firm up. If it has been stored in the freezer longer and is too firm, allow it to soften in the fridge until scoopable.