We are well into summer and cool refreshing desserts are on the menu, nothing like a great ice cream and some summer fruit so I thought I would share a really simple recipe for homemade ice cream with a twist.
Olive oil isn’t normally associated with desserts but it is gaining ground favourably with top chefs around the world and is appearing in more and more dishes every day. You won’t just find it on a salad dressing or drizzled over your grilled fish but now it is being used in sponge cakes and brownies and being poured over chocolate puddings, fresh fruit and flans, even olive oil jelly sweets are being offered, a recipe I will share with you in another post.
It might sound odd to some but at the end of the day the olive is a fruit and the oil is a juice and if harvested correctly will be bursting with fruity flavours, some greener and more herbaceous and others more tropical and sweeter, which tend to be the more favoured oils for desserts. The king of the dessert olive oil is with out a doubt the Arbequina variety, an oil which is not bitter, has very little pepper if any and is tremendously fruity with notes of apple and banana, I highly recommend you buy a very good extra virgin for this recipe as it is necessary to give it the full flavour: Abbae de Queilles, Basilippo or Castillo de Canena all offer fantastic 100% Arbequina olive oils and are available in most supermarkets amongst others.
This recipe ice cream made with olive oil and some of Spain’s most seasonal fruits, melon and lemon. A fantastic combination that isn’t too sweet but refreshing and different. Apart from adding antioxidants and vitamins as well as helping to boost your good cholesterol, olive oil also gives your ice cream a wonderfully unique smooth texture. Let’s say from a psychological point of view the goodness of the oil counteracts the badness of the sugar! It is well worth a go and I am sure you will impress any guest with this unusual but sophisticated dessert.
Ingredients:
Water
Brown Sugar
Lemon juice
Lemon zest
Lime zest
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Large Egg Whites
Melon
The first step is to prepare some syrup. This is really easy and all you need is 300ml of water and 360 grams of white sugar. Pour the water into a pan and add the sugar, start to heat up the mixture and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. When the mixture come to a boil add 15g of lemon zest and boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely.
In a separate bowl you will need to add 3 large egg whites and whisk them together thoroughly, slowly add 240ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Arbequina) as you are whisking , then add 300ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice (make sure you pass the lemon juice through a sieve first to remove the bits), continue blending the mixture until it is homogenous then add the mixture to the cooled down syrup and continue whisking until it is all evenly blended. All you have to do now is place it in the freezer until it is frozen.
The final step is to marinate the melon. Make sure you buy a ripe melon; you can tell if it’s ripe by pressing in on the melon at both ends with your thumbs. If you can push in the tips on the ends it is ripe for eating straight away. If they don’t budge its not ripe enough yet. Cut even slices from the melon of about 1 cm in thickness, then cut them up each slice into 3 pieces, remove all skin before hand. Place the melon slices in a deep dish. Take approximately 250ml of Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil and add two tablespoons of sugar and 10g of lime zest., blend in the sugar and stir well. Pour the olive oil mixture over the melon pieces and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate.
Finally when all is ready, serve the up the marinated melon with a ball of olive oil ice cream and decorate with a little lime or lemon zest. Lime gives a nicer contrast.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can substitute the lemon for any citrus fruits, be it oranges, limes, mandarins, grapefruit or any other, you could even make your own combination. By the way the syrup used in this recipe is the same syrup that is used in Cuban Mojitos (although it is sometimes done with brown cane sugar instead) so if you decide to make a little extra all you need to do is grab a bottle of white rum, some crushed ice, a lime and a little soda water. If your not sure how to make it here are the measurements for a large beer glass :
Add in this order to a cocktail shaker if you have one, if not just do it directly in the glass and stir well:
½ a fresh lime cut up into pieces (firmly roll the lime with the palm of your hand on the table top before cutting it up, this will help release the juices)
5/6 Spearmint leaves
Crush together in the glass with a pestle to release the lime juice.
Add 1oz Syrup (I prefer it with brown sugar)
Add 2 oz White Rum
Fill the glass to around ¾ full with crushed ice
Shake the mixture until it is completely blended / or stir vigorously in the glass.
Pour back into the glass and fill up the rest of the glass (or to taste) with soda water, dress with a slice of lime on the glass and a straw. A fantastic drink to finish the meal with.
Enjoy!