Some recipes, more than others, awaken memories.
Cherry frozen dessert (semifreddo9 makes me think back to the end-of-dinner dessert of many summer evenings, all equally happy and carefree. Confirming something I have been thinking about for a long time. Almost all my best memories were born at the table.
Comfortably seated, already pot-bellied, relaxed.
The taste of summer memories.
The summer memories have the scent of lemon trees and the saltiness and the colors of cherries and watermelon. They are as cold as the water in a mountain lake, as intense as life passing by. They have the lightness of the season of picnics and barbecues and granitas overlooking the sea. And then they are musical. During my summers as a young girl, I remember a jukebox that offered songs in exchange for a coin.
An iconic object of the sixties, the owner of the bathing establishment where my family went was a fan of old songs and owned one.
The mornings were dedicated to diving into the sea, pedalo rides, walks along the shore, and mid-morning breakfasts of bomboloni and red pizza. But in the afternoons, with ice cream, old and new songs resounded with chatter and laughter.
Cherry and whipped cream frozen dessert.
I don’t add sugar to the cream, just half a teaspoon of natural vanilla extract. I add the same quantity of vanilla to the cherries while they’re cooking so that their aroma turns into flavor.
The pitted cherries should cook just long enough to become soft and release a sweet sauce that you will use to give color to the frozen dessert.
It’s a simple dessert, and as I taste the whipped cream I think of life, which is beautiful but would not be the same without whipped cream.
Compose the dessert by alternating the layers as you like. And, if you want, replace the cherries with other fruit, use whatever you like: strawberries, peaches, apricots, or kiwis.
Whip the life as if it were cream, will see the result.
Buona cucina, Monica
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Food tips.
Before the cherry season ends, I always put some in the freezer, pitted but raw. Ready to use whenever you need them.
Before whipping, place the whisk and bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes and the cream in the fridge.
Cherry and whipped cream frozen dessert
serves 6
rectangular mold
Ingredients
fresh cream for desserts, 400 g
cherries, 200 g
natural vanilla extract, about 3 teaspoons
2 tbsp sugar
Directions
After removing the stone, cook the cherries with two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of natural vanilla extract. Cook until the cherries are soft, about 15 minutes over medium-low heat. Turn off the heat, and leave it to cool.
Whip 60 g of cream with ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Line a mold with cling film so that it comes out of the mold, spread the cream on the bottom (it will be the first layer, the one you see when you turn the mold upside down), put it in the freezer 30 minutes.
Chop 1/3 of the cherries and place them on the frozen cream layer. Return to the freezer.
Whip 140 g of cream with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour the cream over the cherries and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
For the last layer, whip 200 g fresh cream, add the juice of the cherries stirring gently so as not to dislodge the cream, add the chopped cherries, mix again and arrange the last layer of cream in the mold.
Place again in the freezer.
Keep the cake cold until ready to serve.
Place the plate on the mold and upside.
Remove the mold and plastic cling, decorate with fresh or cooked cherries, mint leaves, clumps of cream, or whatever you like.
The semifreddo is ready to be sliced a few minutes after removing it from the freezer.
If there are any slices leftover, store them in the fridge.
