My love for Italian Gelato

Before my trip to Italy last summer there were many things that I was looking forward to. The coliseum, Vatican, leaning tower of Pisa, and the 5 little villages of the cinque terre were all on the list. But one thing that I had been looking forward to, perhaps more so than the famous tourist attractions, was something that my foodie side was obsessing over and could not control. Gelato.

I had first heard of this Italian delight when I was planning and researching every last tidbit of our trip – I was, after all, our travel agent, hotel/car booker, plane ticket purchaser and Ms. tour guide Extraordinaire! I kept coming up against people claiming that you could not ‘go to Italy’ if you do not have gelato. I didn’t comprehend it at first…its just ice-cream right? What’s so special about it? Regardless I made a mental note to try it out. I was a bit excited about this and told my sister about this marvelous thing called ‘gelato’. My sister committed a MAJOR bubble burst by informing me that she had already tried gelato, and that it wasn’t anything impressive. Consider my bubble burst. I decided to not get my hopes on it. Have it just be another something to do when in Rome. Yah. That’s right. I went there. Horribly cheesy pun. :)

Then I came upon a website that I swear to god helped me plan this trip in a way I never would have been able to! And after all her advice on everything from how to drive in Italy to best shopping locations, I stumbled onto a page where she dedicated an entire page on gelato. She claimed that when you are in Italy, you must ENSURE that you have at least 1 scoop of gelato a day. At this point I was quite intrigued, and the foodie side of me could not withstand this deviously delicious dare. So. I accepted. And boy am I glad I did.

When I got to Rome the first thing I did was go get gelato. Actually, that’s a lie. Our connecting red-eye flight arrived at 7:00am Rome time. 3 am Ottawa time. The first thing I did when I got to my air conditioned hotel room with a beautiful view of the legendary Rome? I went to sleep. Cause that’s how I roll baby. I ended up waking up 6 hrs later with drool and pillow marks all over my face, to my sister gently waking me up. (Ok, in reality she may have been poking me with her eyeliner telling me to get up. I believe there was quite a bit of ‘ewww’ and ‘ you are sooo gross’ and ‘you’re such a loser! Totally posting this on facebook”.) Though I digress, I prefer the former statement. Anywho, after that we went off to dinner and THEN we went to a gelateria. And that is where I had my first taste of heaven. It was pistachio. Mmmm pistachio.

So, for those of you who wonder, what’s the difference between ice cream and gelato, allow me to clarify. Ice –cream is made of cream and gelato of milk. But what makes it so amazing is that it is much creamier and much tastier. If you have a flavor, such as pistachio, it is as if you have stuck a fistful of pistachios in your mouth. The flavor is so very intense, I was originally very surprised. In fact, I was so surprised that I kept saying, “oh my god. It tastes like pistachios. It…it really tastes like pistachios. You don’t understand. Its not like it tastes sort of like pistachios. It TASTES OF PISTACHIO.” I’ll admit. I got a lot of weird looks. I bet those Italians that were laying around at their local gelateria on a warm Sunday evening in August, were wondering to themselves who this crazy tourist is. What should Pistachio Gelato taste like? Grapes? Is the poor child mentally challenged? I won’t lie. I got some overly sympathetic looks.

But yes, I am happy to say that I got a scoop of gelato every day (some days 2-5). From Nutella flavor to chocolate to kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe and tiramisu. It’s truly amazing how many different types of flavors there are.

Anywho, on to this recipe. I stumbled on to this recipe for raspberry gelato over a month ago, which not only didn’t need an ice-cream maker to make but only had 3 ingredients! I just had to try it. Only I didn’t have raspberries. But I did have a bunch of kiwis. It was really yummy and OH MY GOD GUYS. It TASTED like KIWI. For REAL. Like. Like it was like I had kiwi in my mouth. Like. For serious.

Kiwi Gelato

(adapted from here)

300g (10oz) frozen kiwi (I just peeled and chopped kiwis and put them in a freezer)
1/2C (approx 70g or 2 1/2oz) sugar or to taste
1/2C double cream (48% milk fat minimum)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and whizz until you have a smooth creamy mixture that looks like soft gelato. Taste and add extra sugar if you think it needs it.

Freeze for a few hours or enjoy pronto.

Recipe Review:

So, I thought this tasted REALLYYYY good. My only problem with it was it would NOT stiff up. Of course I probably should have left it in the freezer a bit more, but I couldn’t wait ok? I just had to have it! The flavor was amazing but a bit slushy. But I didn’t mind too much :) I will definitely make it again, just tweak it a bit…maybe add a LITTLE bit more fruit and freeze longer.

Recipe rating: 7/10 stars (only cause I need to freeze it longer!)

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Italy!

Hello!

Long time no post eh? So very sorry about that! I feel awful! :(

I have been meaning to post for the longesttttt time. Its not that I haven't baked its just that I haven't had time to 'process' the images and post about them. I have had so much stuff going on this past month...which I hope to catch up on soon! Aside from working full time,I had my first order (cupcakes for a friend's sister's baby shower), I also had to plan our trip to Italy and go on the trip (it was amazing!) and I also had to get my books for back to school and a bunch of other things in between. So, as I was sorting through my photos trying to figure out which to post first, I decided to just post my most recent item, what I made for lunch yesterday! :)

Italian Style Tomato Sauce from fresh tomatoes! (with pasta of course ;))

Today Ill just talk about Italy. Oh my god. It was wonderful. Even though so many things that could have gone wrong with our trip did (thanks a lot aircanada vacations! **glares**) we still managed to have a pretty good time. Rome was beautiful and quite breath takingly amazing. My parents werent THAT excited about going to Rome. (They had lived in Paris for almost 2 years and thought Rome would be the same: a few big sites and that was it....over with in 2-3 days tops.) But they were in for a big surprise....when they say Rome is the eternal city...they weren't joking! There was soooo much to see and do there! In fact, my parents are planning on maybe going back in December! (of course...we wont be taking air Canada vacations if we do go! -_- )

freshly picked basil from my garden

Anywho, on to the best part....the FOOD. The food was absolutely amazing! SO yummy! I loved their pizzas and pastas and oh my god....I am in LOVE with Gelato. I am going through withdrawal right now since I had about 2 scoops a day while we were in Italy! Yes....thats a lot of gelato....BUT I WANT SOME NOW!

Anyways, we especially loved their pasta with tomato sauce....it was SO good....we practically lived off that stuff. We have been back for less than 2 weeks, and were craving its tomato-ey goodness:)

Two types of Olive Oil and Italian Pasta

So yesterday, I was going to make some pasta, but the old canned kind that was always so perfect...now just wouldnt do....its horrible how you are so happy with something...then you find out it can be so much better....and you are no longer happy with what you had:(

So, being adventurous I set out into the kitchen to make us some Pasta with homemade Italian tomato Sauce! It took some searching but I couldn't find what I wanted exactly ....they were all either too simple...too difficult...or didn't use fresh tomatoes! (We bought an entire box full of Roma Tomatoes!)

So, I adapted my own from a few different place I found online. So here it is,

Italian Tomato Sauce made with Fresh Tomatoes

Ingredients:

* 14 Tbsp Olive Oil (7/8 cup)
* 1 red onion
*5 garlic cloves
*200 ml water
* 1/2 cup fresh basil (chopped)
* salt and Pepper
* Tomatoes (about 15 Roma Tomatoes ) -- or about 28 oz of other tomatoes

1) Heat oil in a large pan on low. while heating up chop the onions up and fry them for 7 min. When the onion is cooked for this long it gives the sauce its sweetness. When onion is cooked it should be caramelized slightly and translucent.

2) Chop up the garlic really small and add to pan and cook for another 2 min.

3) Add 3-4 generous pinches of freshly grounded pepper.
and 4-5 pinches of salt. (To taste)

4)Add the prepared tomatoes (see below how to prepare them). Leave them to cook for 20 min. Add a bit of water to it if you feel its going to burn.

(Befor the 20 min)

5)Add the 200 ml of water and stir gently for 2 min. Sauce should be thick but not watery. Add your basil and gently stir it in.

6) Reduce the heat and cook for 10 min. This concentrates the flavour. Add water if needed.

Enjoy!

This recipe was mostly based off this video, so watch and enjoy! Videos always help :)

Prepare Tomatoes:

(in hot water)


(in cold water)

(It peels away easily)

1. Dunk your Tomatoes into boiling water and carefully remove after 30-60 seconds.
2. Immediately drop tomatoes into cold water to stop the cooking process.
3. Peel off the skins of the tomatoes and de-seed them and get out the extra juices. (A bit of juice is fine)


Well that's it for now! I *promise* to try to update some more ASAP!

Hope everyone had an amazing summer! :)

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