Sunday, January 6, 2013

Cherry Ripe Gelato

Cherry Ripe Gelato
One of the things I love about summer is the fruit - the berries and cherries in particular.  When I was prepping for our Festive Flavours class, I thought I'd like to do a fresh cherry sorbet... which then evolved into a cherry ripe sorbet.

The trick with sorbet  is not to be focussed on the weight of the ice.  Each sorbet needs a different amount of ice - the amount varies on the water content of the fruit, the dryness of the ice etc.  Whilst 700g is usually a good approximate amount, it's not a hard and fast rule.  The trick is just to keep adding ice, bit by bit through the MC hole, until the sorbet stops "spitting" - once it's taken on enough ice, it will churn itself and that's the magic moment when you stop.

In the end, I made cherry ripe sorbet a couple of times but decided it worked better as a gelato, using frozen cherries - the flavour is much more intense.  You can use fresh cherries but obviously need more frozen coconut milk or ice, whichever you've got handy!



Cherry Ripe Gelato
 
 
Ingredients:-
 
300g frozen, pitted, cherries
200g frozen coconut milk
50g raw sugar
80g dark chocolate (less if you don't like it quite so rich)
1 egg white
 
Method:-
 
1.  Place sugar and chocolate in TM bowl and mill for 20 seconds on speed 10.
 
2.  Add cherries and coconut milk.  Chop for 40 seconds on speed 8, using spatula to keep fruit moving through the blades if necessary.
 
3.  Insert butterfly and add egg white.  Beat for 40 seconds on speed 4, then serve. 
 
 
Tips:-
 
When you make a gelato using frozen fruit, it tends to freeze softer so that you can keep the leftovers and just go back to them and spoon them out for later servings.  If you want it to be lovely and fluffy again, spoon the leftovers into the bowl, run them through for 20 seconds on speed 8, insert the butterfly and re-whip.