An Italian dessert featuring pomegranate for a festive winter color and flavor!
This month’s Recipe ReDux theme is:
Grab your nearest cookbook and ReDux the recipe on page 201, 16, 216 – or any combination of the number ‘2016.’
So, I cheated a bit and used a magazine.
I won a subscription to the gorgeous Donna Hay magazine last year thanks to a raffle donated by a2 Milk at a Food and Culinary Professionals reception.
If you aren’t familiar with Donna Hay, she’s the Australian equivalent to Martha Stewart (even better IMHO) and first credited with food photography going with a cleaner, more simple, white on white style in recent years.
On page 102 of last year’s December/January issue there was this gorgeous photo of a Raspberry Cream Semifreddo along with the copy: “The classic pairing of sweet raspberries and cream in this icy dessert is the perfect way to cool down on a hot Christmas day.”
Oh the irony, living here in the Northeast, of having a hot Christmas day (though last year it was in 60s.)
I’ve never made semifreddo before – which is Italian for “half-cold” and is typically a softened version of ice cream made with cream, eggs and sugar, frozen in a rectangle mold and served sliced. So, I pulled out the Italian version of the Betty Crocker cookbook – The Silver Spoon – and lo and behold, several semifreddo recipes appeared on page 1102 (so I’m back to following the theme rules after all.)
Here are the tweaks I made in my semifreddo version:
- Used whole milk instead of heavy cream
- Used 4 eggs instead of 8 yolks
- Used pasteurized eggs (to skip the heating step to get the raw eggs to a safe temperature)
- Used pomegranate juice and arils in place of raspberries – tis the season!
An Italian dessert featuring pomegranate for a festive winter color and flavor!
Ingredients
- 4 pasteurized raw eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup pomegranate juice
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 cups whole milk
- Pinch of salt
- Arils from 1 pomegranate (about 1 cup)
- Fresh mint leaves
Directions
- Separate the egg whites from yolks. Place whites in large mixing bowl and yolks in separate bowl.
- Whip the egg whites together and slowly add 1/4 cup sugar while whipping. Whip until stiff peaks form. Slowly whip in pomegranate juice and lime juice. Set aside
- In bowl with egg yolks, add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, milk and pinch of salt. Whisk together well.
- Fold egg whites mixture into egg yolk/milk mixture.
- Line 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap (with enough to hang over sides of pan.) Slowly pour mixture into pan.
- Freeze for 4 - 5 hours.
- Before serving, soften in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
- Top with pomegranate arils and fresh mint leaves. Slice and serve immediately.
Truth be told, I tested this recipe three different times. First time, I used too much pomegranate juice so it was an icy mess. The second time, I beat the pomegranate juice with the egg yolks so the color was rather…..greyish-brown.
Third time around, I mixed the juice with the egg whites which turned a prettier light pink hue. But tthe final product was more like a layer of granita on the bottom and ice cream on top. Next time, I think I’ll thaw it in the refrigerator for about 10 -15 minutes before serving – after all semifreddo is suppose to be “half cold” not “all cold.”