Rosemary Gelato w/ Roasted Lavender Scented Figs


Buckle your seatbelts, because you are going for a dessert ride today.

I have been obsessed lately with making homemade ice-cream.

I recently saw a recipe for fior di latte gelato on Julie's site, and I immediately purchased my first ice-cream maker on amazon.

Yes, it's much easier to buy ice-cream at the grocery store, but it tastes SO MUCH BETTER when you make it at home!

This basic gelato recipe is pure dairy. No egg yolks, no flavoring, no nothin'.


Heavy cream, sugar and milk w/ a pinch of salt.
I can do that.

I decided to steep fresh rosemary sprigs in the milk for a few hours before churning in the ice-cream maker to make it a little more exotic.

This was some of the most delicious stuff to ever touch my lips.

Make sure you are using organic, REAL, full fat (preferably the stuff in the glass jars from your local dairy) milk and cream to make this the creamiest and closest to the Italian gelato that you can get!

All ice-cream makers are different, this one made my life easy and if you chill the mixture in the morning, then you will have dessert in 15 minutes.

To gild the lily, I roasted some figs w/ honey and balsamic and lavender from my garden and poured a little bit over the gelato for the adults.

Hello.


Rosemary Gelato w/ Roasted Lavender Scented Figs:

2 cups whole milk or half & half
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
pinch salt

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup of the milk almost to a simmer with the sugar, whisking, until the sugar dissolves.

Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl. Pour in the rest of the cold milk, the cup of cream and a pinch of salt. (Doing it this way will kickstart the cooling process).

Place 2 fresh rosemary sprigs (not dried) into the milk and let steep for at least 2 hours in the fridge.


Right before you are ready to process the mixture, discard the rosemary sprigs.

Pour milk/cream/sugar mixture (make sure it is VERY COLD) into the machine, and proceed with your ice-cream maker's directions.


Freeze in a container until ready to use.


Lavender Scented Roasted Figs w/ Honey & Balsamic:

Cut some fresh figs in half (remove stems) and place in a casserole dish, nestled nice and close together.

Splash on some balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of honey.
Roast in a 400F oven for 20 minutes, until bubbling and syrupy.

Lay some lavender flowers (optional) around the figs and let cool a little. The scent of the lavender will be just enough to make the figs fragrant. Zest a lemon over the warm figs for extra amazingness (is that a word?).

When ready to serve, scoop out some of the gelato, and pour a spoonful of the fig syrup over the dish and garnish w/ rosemary or mint.


Of course, the gelato is fabulous on its own, and needs nothing to make it better.....but I just couldn't help myself!

Comments

Natalia said…
This dessert sounds divine and beyond amazing! We've had a hand-crank ice cream maker for many years & love using it in the summer months. It's calorie crazy when you see how much sugar and heavy cream you add to make that ice cream, but you never need a lot of it to satisfy and you know it's freshly made with no additives.

I like your idea of adding fresh rosemary and lavender, both of which I have in my garden as well. Can't wait to try this as I've just purchased fresh figs from Trader Joe's!
Jamie said…
Wow that really is a simple recipe for gelato and beautiful! I've just been thinking about rosemary and how to use it in sweets which I've never done before so this is wonderful. But with no ice cream machine can it be done? Worth a try at least! And the roasted figs are gorgeous!
Oui Chef said…
Holy $#!% Stacey, this sounds and LOOKS amazing!
John said…
Passed out........
Anonymous said…
Your instagram... OMG - that little earthernware crock of polpette. I haven't gotten down to Arturo's in over a YEAR since my son is no longer in the Maplewood orchestra. I MUST get to Razza. Is the bread & butter (buttercup yellow!) as crazy good as it looks in the NYT video??? Tell me if you can - what's the best 'off' day/time to hit Razza? I don't like crowds...
Stacey Snacks said…
Anon,
Razza was an hour wait last Friday night, however, a week later, on a Thursday night, we were able to sit at the bar, no problem.
You never know, but I would guess a Tuesday night would be the best night to go.....no Brooklyn or suburbanites, like me, venturing to JC on a Tuesday, only locals.
It's the BEST.......my very favorite, and Dan and Fred are wonderful hosts.
Go and report in!
Anonymous said…
Thanks Ms. Snacks, Tuesday night sounds like my night - I promise to report back if I ever get my lazy a** down to JC! I'm SO fussy about my food out, and was eating almost every Monday @Arturo's for YEARS, that says tons - no fancy bells and whistles, just consistently excellent, my favorite too.
sexy shop RJ said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I haven't had one good fig this year and look at yours! What a great dessert with your homemade gelato, you're so creative!