How can I rev up a scoop of vanilla ice-cream?
Joe, Salford
Accessorising ice-cream is usually most profitable when there’s a component of distinction, whether or not that’s a tart fruit puree (blackcurrant, say) for old-school ripple vibes, a handful of one thing crunchy (toasted sesame seeds, nuts, crumbled cookies) or a shattered magic chocolate shell (the place you combine equal components melted chocolate and coconut oil, pour it over your ice-cream, and watch it solidify). And, fortunately for you, Joe, that is very a lot vanilla-specific.
“Amongst only a few different contenders, my number-one dessert on the planet is vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce,” says Jacob Kenedy, chef-patron of Gelupo in Soho, London. “These two issues collectively are nirvana.” The chocolate sauce, nonetheless, should be made the way in which his grandfather did: “Roughly half-and-half melted bitter chocolate and water, plus a tiny little bit of sugar”. It’s additionally important that the sauce is heat, not scorching, so the ice-cream solely “melts slightly”.
The thought of pouring different issues over ice-cream is value exploring too, he says, resembling with affogato (the Italian custom of tipping a double espresso over your vanilla). Or cracking open the drinks cabinet: “You possibly can pour brandy or whisky over it; amaro is scrumptious; or espresso and a spirit.” Puddles galore await.
“You may as well mix fat,” provides Kenedy, throwing whipped cream into the sector – simply don’t get carried away: “Add one or two issues, no extra,” Kennedy warns. “Both chocolate sauce and whipped cream, fruit (raspberries, strawberries, peaches, baked pears) and chocolate sauce, or fruit and toasted nuts.”
Terri Mercieca, pastry chef and founding father of cult ice-cream sandwich and soft-serve purveyor Completely happy Endings, usually feels fruity, too: “I’m a giant fan of ardour fruit with vanilla ice-cream.” When on this mindset, she grabs a bowl, scoops in her vanilla, together with hazelnuts, chunks of caramel or good-quality chocolate, or freeze-dried fruits, and tops with ardour fruit. You might use mango as an alternative – or, Mercieca provides, “all the great fruit you get in summer season”. One such fruit is cherries, which Diana Henry, in Easy: easy meals, huge flavours, cooks in butter, sugar, lemon juice and grappa, earlier than serving heat with ice-cream. And there’s nothing, er, vanilla about that.
An emergency ice-cream sandwich repair can also be mere moments away: take your favorite tub of vanilla and stick it between your favorite cookies. Job achieved. To construct a greater one, although, Mercieca has some pointers: “Flip a biscuit the other way up, put a hoop cutter on high and smoosh the ice-cream in there.” Take away the cutter, high with one other biscuit, and eat immediately: “If you happen to put it again within the freezer, the biscuits get too laborious – that’s why we use actually skinny ones”. You might, after all, make your individual biscuits, through which case chocolate chip or shortbread are the way in which to go.
Ever the maverick, Mercieca has additionally been identified to serve her scoop scattered with (potato) chipsticks (sure, you learn that proper). “Particularly should you get the flowery Portuguese ones,” she explains. “With caramel sauce… Successful.” And who're we to disagree?
Anna Berrill
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