Olive oil gelato
We love “exotic” ice cream flavors. Take our durian semifreddo pie for example. Perhaps its in our Vietnamese blood growing up eating exotic fruits such as durian, soursop, jackfruit, and mangosteens that we gravitate towards the unusual rather then the usual. As the weather is heating up here in Southern California we were looking to dust off our ice cream maker and came across a tantalizing olive oil gelato recipe from Food52.com, the site where our Korean Fried Chicken won the best chicken wings recipe.
As it turns out, we happen to have a bottle of arbequina olive oil from California Olive Ranch sitting in our pantry just begging to be used in a worthwhile manner. Arbequina variety is fruity and is also quite smooth and not as pungent, a perfect olive oil variety for our gelato churning pleasures.
This was so enjoyable, we made several batches. The second batch we made some balsamic reduction and chilled it before adding it to the churning gelato at the last minute. The tangy sweetness of balsamic adds a great dimension to the buttery rich olive oil gelato and was our favorite version.
Olive Oil Gelato with Balsamic Swirl
Adapted from Food52.com
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup whole milk
Large pinch salt
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons California Olive Ranch Arbequina
3 tablespoons chilled balsamic reduction (optional)
Prepare an ice bath and a empty bowl. In sauce pan add the sugar, water, milk, and salt heat on low until dissolves. In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks until frothy and combine into the sauce pan a bit at a time while continuously stirring the pan. Continue to stir on low heat until mixture thickens to a custard consistancy. Transfer to ice bath and stir until cool and refridgerate covered overnight.
Whisk in 1/4 cup of olive oil a small amount at a time until smooth. We thought the taste wasn't too overpowering so we added the extra 2 tablespoons. Churn in ice cream maker following manufacturers directions. To add the chilled balsmic swirl, drizzle in small amount at a time during the last minutes of churning. Freeze for another 2 hours and enjoy.
Cooks note: For instructions on how to make a balsamic reduction, see this link. Enjoy with sprinkles of sea salt or extra drizzle of balsamic reduction.
Hong Pham and Kim Dao blog at The Ravenous Couple.
Related post: Dulce De Leche Ice Cream.
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