The runners on the Millennium Trail are wearing shorts, the big sleepy mosquitoes have hatched and, today, a caterpillar crawled across the boardwalk. Spring is here.
In tune with the season, appetites have changed. Gone is the appeal of the long winter braise, the rich gravy, the slow-cooked roasted vegetables. Now we’re all about the salads, the barbecued smokies, the grilled mushrooms. The ice cream. The gelato.
Faithfully, as it does every year, the seasonal debate has landed: What is the difference between gelato and ice cream? Learned chefs and Italian grandmothers weigh in. Gelato: milk, but not cream. Yes, cream—absolutely no to eggs. What? Yes to eggs! Ice cream: eggs, milk. Cream is absolutely not necessary. Pardon? Of course cream.
Each fierce proponent offers their recipe, sometimes the very same one, for gelato, for ice cream. There are eggs, there are no eggs; there is cream, there is not cream. For the confused internet browser and for the home cook craving a cold, sweet dessert, the best course is to bow respectfully out of the debate, choose a recipe and go for it.
The “frozen dessert” I’ve gone for here is a recipe whose ingredients and method could as easily be called ice cream or gelato. I’ve chosen gelato because it forms the basis for a dessert that is unmistakably Italian and unmistakably itself: Affogato: hot espresso coffee poured over frozen gelato (or ice cream). The bitter contrasts with the sweet; the hot with the cold; and the adult satisfaction—coffee!—holds hands with the childhood pleasure (melting, cold thing!).
Hurry, hurry. Eat it up! Or go slow and savour. Remember those days in the back seat of the car, when you slow-raced your siblings to see who could make the ice cream cone last longest. Remember the April evening in the stroller with your little sister, when the ice cream bar melted and ran down your hand and you wanted to cry because it was messy, and fleeting, like spring, like life, and you knew that about life already—that it was messy and fleeting, even though you were only two going on three. Your little sister still had half a bar, and you were done.
It’s spring, people. Make a cold thing. Pour something delicious on it. Eat it, and be here now.
Simple Gelato/Affogato
Ingredients
- Simple Gelato
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk try our local brand, Sunnyside Farm Whole Milk
- 1 Tbsp birch syrup or 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup 35% cream Sunnyside brand, if you can get it
- Affogato
- 8 scoops Simple Gelato
- 4 oz hot espresso coffee
Instructions
- Heat milk, sugar and birch syrup or vanilla together in a small pot over medium heat, stirring, just until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat, pour into a bowl, with a cover, and chill for 20 to 30 minutes. Place an empty, medium-sized bowl in the fridge to chill, as well.
- Whisk the cream in the chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Add the milk to the cream and stir gently until thoroughly combined. (You whip the cream to incorporate air, which makes for softer, creamier gelato.)
- If you have an ice cream maker, churn the milk-cream mixture for 20 minutes until it is frozen but still soft. Transfer to a bowl, with a cover, and place in the freezer for 2 hours to harden slightly.
- If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking tray, cover, and place in the freezer. Every 30 minutes, for about 5 hours, remove the tray from the freezer and whisk the mixture vigorously. Plan this for a day (or evening) when you will be at home! The whisking will break up any ice crystals that form and ensure a creamy final product.
- Eat the gelato within a week, for the best flavour. Top with your favourite syrup, fresh berries and serve it with pie or cake; or try the famous Italian dessert, Affogatto.
- Place four small bowls in the freezer and chill for 20 minutes.
- Brew the espresso.
- Drop two scoops of gelato into each bowl.
- Pour 1 oz of hot espresso over gelato and serve immediately to get the full benefit of sweet and bitter, hot and cold.
- Options: pour a dash of Amaretto over the gelato, followed by hot espresso. If you like, serve thin chocolate biscuits on the side. But it’s not necessary.
