Molto Gusto_ Easy Italian Cooking - Mario Batali [47]
1 cup passion fruit puree
1 cup cold water
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
Combine the passion fruit puree, water, and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl, whisking well to combine. Taste and add up to 1 tablespoon more sugar if desired. Refrigerate for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally to dissolve all of the sugar, until thoroughly chilled.
Chill a small baking sheet or a cake pan in the freezer (the thinner the layer of granita base, the faster the ice will form).
Pour the granita mix into the chilled pan and freeze for 30 to 45 minutes, until it is beginning to freeze around the edges. Stir the slushy mixture with a fork and return to the freezer. Continue stirring and scraping the mixture every 30 minutes or so, until you have an evenly granular mixture. Cover and keep in the freezer until ready to serve. (The granita can be kept frozen for up to 1 week.)
Coppette
Sweet Corn Coppetta
SERVES 6 · PHOTO GELATO & SORBETTO
Catching summer corn at its sweet flavorful peak can be a challenge, but it yields delicious results. Blackberries come into season at the same time as corn, and the two are wonderful together. The polenta cake adds textural interest and reinforces the “corniness.”
3 cups Sweet Corn Gelato (Gelato & Sorbetto)
About 1½ cups Polenta Cake cubes (recipe follows)
Blackberry Sauce (recipe follows)
Cold Whipped Zabaglione (recipe follows)
About ½ cup blackberries for garnish
Divide the gelato among six sundae dishes or bowls. Scatter about ¼ cup cake cubes over and around the gelato in each bowl and drizzle with about 2 tablespoons of the blackberry sauce. Top with the zabaglione, and garnish with the blackberries.
BLACKBERRY SAUCE
MAKES A GENEROUS ¾ CUP
2 cups blackberries
¾ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 fresh thyme springs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Combine the blackberries, water, sugar, and thyme in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the berries have fallen apart, about 20 minutes.
Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Stir in the lemon juice. Let cool, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours; the sauce will thicken as it cools. (The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
POLENTA CAKE
MAKES ONE 9-BY-13-INCH CAKE
This delicious, moist cake is made with brown butter, which can be made up to a week ahead of time, stored in the refrigerator, and then remelted for the recipe.
½ pound plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) unsalted butter
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour or 2/3 cup blanched whole almonds
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup plus 1 teaspoon cake flour
Scant ½ cup coarse cornmeal
7 large egg whites
½ teaspoon salt
Finely chopped zest of 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat and continue to cook until the butter is an amber brown (use a ladle or spoon to check the color of the liquid butter); do not stir—you want the milk solids in the butter to fall to the bottom of the pan and brown, flavoring the butter as it cooks. Strain the butter through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard the solids. (You will have about ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons brown butter.) Set aside to cool.
If using whole almonds, combine them with about 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar in a food processor and grind to a powder.
Sift the (remaining) confectioners’ sugar, the almond flour (or ground almond mixture), cake flour, and cornmeal together.
Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer in a large bowl until the whites hold stiff peaks. Gradually fold in the dry ingredients, making sure that they are completely incorporated. Fold in the