L'Arte del Gelato: Getting a real Ice Cream Sandwich

On Nomz Hero Note to Self: Contrary to popular belief, not everyone screams for ice cream, I think Italians, pleasant announce a desire for gelato 

Memorial Day weekend was a busy one with me making food and stuff like it was nobody’s business but I am back, no vengeance, more like food-ventures.

I love ice cream. My first paycheck from my first real world job, I could have went with the typical purchase of a playstation (already had), car, a stereo, but like a true playboy I bought myself a ice cream maker. It was the coolest kitchen appliance I have bought to date and I remember I spent a whole night trying to figure out how I was going to christen the new maker (peanut butter ice cream). I was that fat kid when summer rolled around, would save pocket change and wait for the Siren call of the ice cream truck. I of course never had money ready or never realized it was around and ended up chasing the ice cream truck down a block or two. In retrospect I think the dude knew I was chasing the truck but did not stop for a while to get a good laugh out of watching a out of shape, pudgy 10 year old huffing and puffing. When I finally caught up with the truck and my breathe I would spend my savings of $1.25 (a lot of money for a 10 year old in the 90s)on the Double Play ice cream bar, which was in the shape of a glove, bubblegum flavor and always had a gumball in the middle (which was always stale). If I was lucky, they would have candy cigarettes because pretend smoking was cool.

Although the days of eating Double Plays are over, (I have not seen a box of those in at the freezer section anywhere) the majority of my body fat can still be attributed to ice cream and gelato. Disclaimer: I am not one of those weird people that are not Italian, and did not grow up in Italy that say “gelato” with an Italian flair. You are from Bucks County, not from North Umbria, chill out. If I see someone like you, I may or may not try and trip you.

Gelato is not just a fancy word for ice cream; there is an actual difference and not another word to call ice cream to show your date that you are worldly. The main differences are gelato contains less fat because it is generally made with whole milk. Ice cream has about 10% and gelato is about half of that so I guess it is healthier? It is something you can tell yourself when you are debating if you should kill that whole pint when you are wearing your fat pants and watching Conan. Gelato is churned at a slower speed, hence incorporating less air making it denser and intensifying the flavors. Now we got the food nerd part out, time for the eating. 

Gelato After the Jump!

Lemon Bars and Chocolate Ice Cream- Not mixed together

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Lemon Squares are bite size pieces of pie

I do not have a particularly favorite season and I particularly do not really care. But this past winter, after being hit with snow for five straight weeks, can be best described as…craptastic. Come to think of it, I hate snow, because I do not know what purpose it serves. I mean back in grade school, snow was great best you got a free day to sleep and do absolutely nothing. Now, it is like…I need to get to work and plowing snow? That is some serious work. I feel it is so counterproductive because it is going to melt and disappear, but I can not do anything, until the snow is gone. Anyone that romanticize about snow and say that they love it and it is pretty and beautiful has never had to shove a driveway and does not live in the Northeast. I hate you.

Anyways, the barrage of snow this winter has especially taken its toll on me and I am looking forward to spring and the summer. Although lemons are available all year round…well pretty much everything is nowadays, lemons, or Meyer Lemons to be precise are technically in season around March, which is a total tease because it is never warm in March. But the vibrant yellow lemons makes you think of spring and warm weather and makes life and the cold a bit more bearable. My favorite thing to do with lemons is to make lemon bars because it is a quick and simple treat that is good to eat on your own or to a party and impress people, especially girls (But, being the shy loser I am, this hasn’t happened yet, but in my mind it totally works because I saw it on TV once and TV never lies to you). I have tried many lemon bar recipes but my favorite is the one from David Lebovitz, in which in another sci-fi Stargate world, I we would be total buds and I would never explain and find perfectly normal to have a chocolate drawer. The lemon bar recipe, although lacking chocolate is not lacking any lemon flavors and it perfectly embodies the sour and essence of the lemon. The kicker in the recipe, is it uses a whole lemon, peel and all which is great because you get little bits of chewy slightly bitter peel. The lemon bars just scream warm weather and comfort and I suggest everyone to start pumping these out, besides citrus prevents scurvy and we all want to prevent that. 

Though I make and eat ice cream all year round, I start kicking it into high gear the second I can rock shorts. So when it bizarrely hit 75 degrees, before slapping on the shorts, I made sure that the ice cream bowl was in the freezer and I have enough heavy cream to start churning out ice cream. I have been having chocolate cravings like a pregnant lady so I naturally decided to christen the ice cream making high season with a chocolate ice cream. I did not just do any old chocolate ice cream, I added in Cocoa nibs which turned the chocolate volume from 10 to 11 (This is Spinal Tap reference). I had a bag of dried tart cherries that I have been wanting to use so taking a page from David Lebovitz, I took his idea for his red wine syrup and rehydrated the cherries in the red wine syrup which was a great idea because it even after freezing the ice cream, the cherries did not turn into chewy, rock hard nubs, they were tender and the slight tartness and the fruity wine paired perfectly with the chocolate. I used a Callebaut 72% for this and but I think a milk chocolate would work well too. Use a good quality chocolate if you can get your hands on it, you should not subject yourself to crappy chocolate!

Recipes after the Jump!