When I lived in Italy, I didn’t eat chocolate. The reasons for this seemed to be physical, a food intolerance that caused awful headaches. But, walking past my local gelateria every day, I used to crave chocolate gelato, practically to the point of slobbering on their windows. The other flavours were incredibly good – the pistachio being especially spectacular – but I still lusted. It wasn’t stracciatella or wimpy bacio that got me going. Not even nutellone (a milk ice-cream with a whole pot of Nutella churned through it into ribbons) was that tempting. No, I wanted the richest, most intense concoctions: dark and dense. You sensed the gelataio had taken a melted pot of 99% chocolate, simply shown it a bottle of milk, in the manner of a good martini, and frozen the results. But it wasn’t to be – my chocolate induced headaches were worse the darker the chocolate, and so for years I abstained.
(Don’t feel too bad: I’m fairly sure I induced my intolerance by binging on free Ferrero Rocher samples when I worked in duty-free. Ahem.)
However, all has changed: after a few years off, I can now eat chocolate once more. Maybe my body just needed a break. Or perhaps there is a more metaphysical explanation: my hitherto unhappy soul was unable to accept the pure bliss of chocolate and rejected it, my physical pain a reflection of the pain within…
Whatever. I’m happy now. I’m in love. I eat chocolate. Hence this recipe – a decadent chocolatey hit with an orange undertone. It’s the colour of sin. You’ll never look at a Terry’s chocolate orange again.
It occurred to me that the devilish nature of this gelato would be offset wonderfully by a more virginal accompaniment, so I’ve included my recipe for pure white yoghurt sorbet below too.
Intense chocolate orange ice-cream
Serves 4
- 250ml heavy cream (35% fat)
- 40g cocoa
- 150 milk (I used whole, but given the amount of cream here, reduced fat would be fine)
- 80g caster sugar
- 100g dark chocolate – I used a bar of Lindt Excellence 85%
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Cointreau
- Grated zest of 3 oranges
- Pinch of salt
Put the cream, milk, cocoa, caster sugar, vanilla extract, Cointreau, orange zest and salt in a saucepan and bring slowly to just below boiling.
Meanwhile, chop the chocolate roughly. Once the cream is hot, add the chocolate to the saucepan and stir until it’s melted. Chill thoroughly in the fridge.
When cold, strain into a lipped jug to get rid of the orange zest, then freeze in an ice-cream machine.
Pure yoghurt sorbet
Serves 4, as accompaniment to the ice-cream above, or 2 as a pudding in its own right.
- 400g whole greek yoghurt (I used 2 tubs of Total Fage)
- 4 tbsps icing sugar
- 3 egg whites
Whisk the egg whites until starting to get stiff, then add icing sugar a little at a time, whisking to combine thoroughly. In another bowl, mix the yoghurt with the same whisk until smooth. Put in a good dollop of the egg whites to loosen, then fold in the rest carefully. Pile into an ice-cream maker and churn until frozen.
One Comment on "Intense chocolate orange ice-cream & yoghurt sorbet"
Just got back from a holiday in Italy where we ate just about every gelateria’s Cioccolato Fondente (or variant thereof) twice a day. Will be trying this out as soon as I get an ice cream maker. *sigh*