I recently got a new counter-top ice cream maker (pictured here with my espresso machine, another story for another time), whose arrival allowed me to retire my parents' hand-me-down ice-and-rock salt machine. Theirs was a serious ice cream maker with a rich history, having sat out on the back porch many an afternoon producing homemade ice cream for all the family gatherings of recent years. This little fellow, on the other hand is strictly an indoor operator who makes up to a quart of ice cream in the kitchen while you do something else - no ice, rock salt, or mess.
My first effort was this blackberry cabernet sorbetto, which tasted as fabulous as it looks here: a deep, complex blackberry flavor tempered with the reduced red wine (I opened something generic for this - couldn't quite bring myself to cook down a good cab), and sweetened with simple syrup. I took this to my friend Mary's surprise birthday party and it was a big hit.
Next came a mango sorbet, shown below. This one was delicious initially on the tongue but had a slightly bitter aftertaste. I used the green and red mangoes we get from Mexico.
Last night I tried a gelato, cooking the milk/cream/egg yolks/sugar base in the morning and letting it chill through the afternoon. When I was ready to make the gelato, I stirred in a tablespoon each of ground coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder and some vanilla, and let that mix for about 25 minutes. Then I poured in 4 oz. of chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
Oh yeah.
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