Gelato

One of the things that I said I would miss the most about Europe is the Italian gelato. Just in case you don't know, gelato is Italian ice cream. Only it's better than ice cream. Way better!

The ice cream maker my parents used when I was a kid was a pretty big contraption that you had to use salt and ice in and I think you had to crank it by hand. It was a pretty long process to make ice cream from scratch. My sister-in-law is a God send. She gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas. It's a small Cuisenart thing that you plug into the wall and it spins on it's own. I actually used it for the first time this morning. I made fresh strawberry gelato.

The process started several days ago when I put the bowl that comes with the maker in the freezer. It had to freeze for 24 hours. Last night I made the ice cream base -- very simple -- fresh strawberries, cream, milk, sugar and lemon juice. (I got the recipee from an Italian cooking magazine.) It was cooked so I had to let it cool overnight. Then this morning, I poured the mixture into the freezer bowl plugged it in and in less than 30 minutes, I had gelato. And, let me tell ya, even though I only had a spoonfull because it was breakfast time, it was SO good. I can't wait to have a bowl for dessert tonight!

Now I say "Bring summer on!" I have other recipees for sorbets I can't wait to try. My sister and I also found this great sorbet when we were shopping one day. It is actually made by a company called Ciao Bella out of New York City and is called Cabernet Sorbet. It's like eating frozen wine. I think the ingredients were wine and sugar. So many options!