Last week I prepared an old recipe of mine that I hadn’t unleashed in years: ricotta and radicchio gnudi with pears and toasted almonds.
While eating the dish, I got the idea to create an ice cream with some of the ingredients of this dish: pears, butter, and sage! The combination left me in no doubt, but to be complete, this dessert needed acidity and crunchiness. For the crunchiness I stuck to toasted almonds, while for the acidity I opted for a balsamic vinegar reduction, served like honey over ice cream.
The result was amazing: a balance of sweetness, aromaticity and acidity. Ripe, sweet pears combined with the unmistakable scent of sage, creating a surprisingly velvety and aromatic ice cream. Completing the dish was the crunch of the toasted almonds and the acidic note of the balsamic vinegar reduction, balancing everything with a hint of elegance.
Ingredients
For the ice cream
- 294g Whole Milk
- 118g of cream 35% fat
- 49g butter
- 5 sage leaves
- 5g of neutral for sorbets (we use a cold-procedure in this recipe)
- 93g of Sucrose
- 69g of Dextrose
- 10g Inulin
- 49g of Water
- 314g of Pears
For the balsamic vinegar reduction
- 100 g balsamic vinegar
- 20 g of Sugar
For the toasted almonds
- 50 g of flaked almonds
Steps
Peel and dice the pears and brown them in melted butter flavored with sage leaves, cooking over low heat for 2-5 minutes.
Combine the powders (sucrose, dextrose, inulin and neutral). Mix milk and cream, then whisk, incorporating the powders by sprinkling.
Remove the sage leaves and blend the browned pears into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and whip until creamy and stable.
In a small saucepan, mix balsamic vinegar and sugar. Cook over low heat until liquid is reduced by 50%.
Allow to cool: when cold, the reduction will have the consistency of honey.
In a dry skillet, toast almond slivers over medium heat until golden brown.
Serve the ice cream with a variegation of balsamic vinegar reduction and garnish with toasted almonds. Each spoonful will give the perfect combination of creaminess, fruity sweetness, crunchiness and a hint of acidity.
Analysis of the dish and pairings
This ice cream is a true ode to the harmony of contrasts.
- Sweetness: Ripe pears offer a natural, deep sweetness that is emphasized by dextrose and tempered by sage, whose herbaceous aromatics add complexity.
- Aromaticity: Sage, infused in butter, leaves an elegant impression without being dominant. This interplay of scents makes the ice cream balanced and never cloying.
- Acidity: The balsamic vinegar reduction, with its sweet-acidity, serves as the perfect counterpoint to the creamy ice cream.
- Texture: Roasted almonds add crunchiness, breaking the monotony of creaminess and introducing a pleasantly contrasting element.
Do you like this kind of ice cream? Find 300 more (and more) inside the Gelato Project!
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