I’m always trying to find any excuse to make homemade ice cream. I always love to create new flavors using the semifreddo base I have come to depend on over the years. I tweak the recipe slightly to accommodate the flavor profile that I want to create and over the years, I have made many different flavors. Some of my favorites include the toffee with flamed Italian meringue, the kahlua ‘n’ cream mocha and the rum raisin – but there are lots of others.
This year I attended and wrote about the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. This is a great event where Chefs and food lovers alike go to discover unique and delicious foods and beverages from around the world. Here you will find a representation of both small and large companies who are serious about what they are doing and invest their time and money to best represent their products.
As I walked through the endless rows of vendors in the exhibiting area, I had the opportunity to sample so many different items. A delicious little snack that I came across at the show, but did not include in my original article, was a product made by a company called Nature’s Addict. I did not include them in my review of the show because they still had not unveiled their packaging for the US market – and all of their packaging and marketing material were still in French. This did not take away from how delicious this little treat was or my willingness to write about it, but I had to find the right opportunity. Essentially, these little treats are soft nuggets of 100% dehydrated fruit pulp (like a thicker fruit leather) that are cut into small pieces and dipped in a 70% dark chocolate. The rep was kind enough to give me a few samples, and one of them included one of my favorite flavor combinations – orange and dark chocolate. Like a kid in a candy store, I sampled the other delicious flavors first and held onto my favorite for as long as I could.
As I continued to make my way through the show, I came across the happy group of folks from a cute little company called the Calamondin Café. The owner, Laurie Gutstein, makes some of the most delicious citrus products (using the calamansi fruit) that I have ever tasted. This small, bitter orange is perfect for these types of products. The strong citrus flavor is achieved by using both the fruit and the rind, and the resulting flavor just explodes in your mouth. It is actually more pronounced than any other orange jam or marmalade that I have ever had. It also had a very slight (yet very welcome) bitterness that underlined the overall eating experience, and made for a really lovely flavor. Without hesitation I included them in my article because I wanted others to know how truly delicious these products are. She was kind enough to give sample jars of both the calamondin jam and calamondin coulis to take home with me.
It was not until I had the chance to go through everything I had collected at the show, that I began to think about how I wanted to bring together these two delicious items. Did I want to make a cake, a brownie, a breakfast pastry or something savory?
My next trip through the freezer section of the grocery store finally confirmed my idea for a recipe. I remembered how much I always enjoyed orange creamsicles as a kid, and I just loved the pungent citrus flavor against the background of creamy ice cream.
That was it…
These two delicious products were going to come together as an orange semifreddo, but I needed something more. I wanted to add an extra dimension with layers (stracciatella) of a delicate dark chocolate vein. What’s not to love about that…
Layering the chocolate shards and the fruit leather pieces into the ice cream created a flavor and texture combination that you might be lucky enough to enjoy in a gelateria in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. When it was ready to serve, I spooned a nice portion of the ice cream into my bowl and topped it off with the last of the calamonsi coulis.
If you love this flavor combination as much I do and want to make this at home, I encourage you to try Laurie’s products. This was one of those situations where her products made all of the difference in the world – the use of just a liquer or an extract will not give you the same result.
Dark Chocolate Orange Stracciatella Semifreddo
6 yolks
½ cup powdered sugar (divide into ¼ cup increments)
6 tablespoons orange liquer (I used Cointreau)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped up dehydrated fruit
2 tablespoons calamansi jam
1 tablespoon calamansi coulis
½ cup dark chocolate
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Place the heavy cream along with ¼ cup of powdered sugar into your tabletop mixing bowl and whip until you have stiff peaks. Put this into a smaller bowl and put into the refrigerator until you are ready to use.
Next prepare the thin chocolate shards to create the stracciatella layer in the ice cream. Add the chocolate and the oil to a microwave safe bowl and heat until the chocolate has softened. Stir with a spoon and make sure that there are no large lumps. Spread the chocolate out into a thin layer on a parchment lined sheet pan and freeze. Once frozen, use a pizza cutter to cut the chocolate sheet into thin pieces that will be used in the ice cream. Once you have cut it up into pieces, keep the chocolate in the freezer because it will be very delicate and melt quickly.
Next, place the egg yolks into this same mixing bowl and add the vanilla, orange liquer and the other ¼ cup of powdered sugar, and whisk it all together.
Place the mixing bowl over a water bath and whisk until the mixture becomes very warm (but not hot) to the touch. Continue whisking until it becomes thick and a pale yellow color. Make sure that the mixture does not get too hot or that the bowl does not touch the hot water or you will scramble the yolks. When it has thickened, remove from the water bath and with the whisk attachment, whisk the mixture until it has completely cooled and thickened a little more.
Remove the whisk and add in the calamansi jam and coulis and whisk again. Fold in the whipped cream and the chopped up fruit leather pieces and mix it all together until well incorporated, then set aside.
Find a freezer safe dish or container where you will store your ice cream. I use either a corning ware dish or a sturdy Tupperware container. If you have a matching lid, great, if not just use plastic wrap. Pour 1/3 of the ice cream into the bowl and then add a layer of chocolate shards.
Add another layer of ice cream and put the remaining pieces of chocolate, then top off with the remaining ice cream. Use a spoon to toss the layers gently so they won’t be too uniform, then cover and freeze. Allow to set up in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Enjoy your trip to Europe in your heart and mind, as you indulge with every spoonful…
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