Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Strawberry Gelato

Gelato is an Italian variant of icecream.It is not exactly icecream as though the ingredients are same,the gelato has lower sugar and fat content than the traditional ice cream but the storage life is reduced to 2-3 days as compare to the ice cream. Do check here to know the difference between gelato and an icecream.

When strawberry season was at its peak in India,I too tried a simple strawberry gelato or Gelato alla Fragola from Foodnetwork.It was excellent in taste but in texture not so as I did not have an ice cream maker.I simply followed David Lebovitz's recipe and made mine,but I must say an icecream maker will work wonders.

Ingredients:
Strawberries :12 ounces or atleast 1.5 cups
Sugar: 3/4 cup or less if you prefer so
Milk: 2 cups

Heavy Cream :1/2 cup (I used Amul cream which is the only one available and has 25%fat)
Lemon Juice: 1/2 -1 tsp

Preparation:
Blend together hulled and chopped strawberries,sugar and milk to get a smooth puree.Add in heavy cream and mix in just enough to combine and then add in the lemon juice.Chill in the fridge for atleast 4 hours or overnight. Transfer to an ice cream machine and freeze as per instructions.

I do not have an ice cream machine and so I follwed David Lebovitz's recipe on how to freeze ice cream without it.

Once the icecream is chilled put it into a steel container or deep baking dish or plastic bowl and then freeze it.I had put my mix already in the steel dish and after chilling overnight in the fridge,I put the dish in the freezer.

After 45 minutes or at the max 2 hours,as the edges start to freeze,take out and with a churner or spatula or even a whisk or hand blender,stir it vigourously to break up the ice formation.

Return to the freezer and continue this process every 30 minutes for atleast 2-3 hours or 6-8 times.

After this let it freeze till serving time.During the last time,you can drizzle it with melted chocolate and then whisk and freeze to get little chocolate chip pieces or stracciatella.Also,instead of stracciatella,you can fold in chopped fruit pieces or even nuts and then continue with the final freezing.This is purely optional.

Serve as such or with chocolate sauce garnished with strawberries.

The taste was heavenly.After all the freezing,stirring/whisking and patiently waiting,the taste ought to be perfect.

But,I am not sure whether the texture of the gelato was correct or not as it was made without a gelato machine or icecream maker.So I feel if you clearly want to find the difference between gelato and icecream a machine is a requirement.

This was the first gelato I made this summer and as the heat continues with intermittent rains ,many more may follow.The pictures should speak more than the words,but here if you feel otherwise,then blame it on my photography skills.The gelato was fast melting and so I simply clicked.

UPDATE on 14.05.2010: This post and the gelato (and the blogger) are proud to be featured on the front page of FoodCandy.

18 Comments:

Indian Khana said...

Best way to beat the summer...looks so yum

Unknown said...

Divine!This must be pure bliss in Indian summers :D

Swathi said...

Really nice strawberry gelato. Nice to know about variation between ice cream and gelato.

Kiran said...

Gelato looks delicious,love the way you try new cuisines.Thank you for sharing.

Unknown said...

love the color and I am sure it was great without an ice-cream maker as well :)

Manju said...

awesome!! icecream is in my list to make this summer! :)

Simplyfood said...

This icecream looks amazing and so yummy.Beautiful click.

Priya Suresh said...

Omg, tempting click...beautiful gelato, will try out soon..

Divya Kudua said...

Perfect for the summer..love it!!

dining room tables said...

This is perfect for this day! The weather is hot and this is nice to refresh!

FewMinute Wonders said...

Simply beautiful. I love pineapple gelato that they sell in the mall's food court. My daughter will like the strawberry version that you have created.

notyet100 said...

this looks yum...

Ally said...

looks absolutely yummyyy

Usha said...

Looks fabulous...perfect treat for summer time...

Ann said...

Wow.. that looks so tempting.

Cham said...

That looks gorgeous, I guess summer is in full swing! I never tried ice cream at home!

suvi said...

You are right, clicking pictures of ice cream in the heat is so tough!
I love the look of your gelato.

Red Chillies said...

Gelato is on my to-do list for a long time. Hopefully I will try it this summer. Glad to find all the information here.

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