Gelato Recipes:

Gelato Recipes
All recipes by Chef Carlo Cavallo, Sonoma-Meritage Restaurant & Oyster Bar

Vanilla Gelato
Makes about 2 pints

4 cups of heavy cream (or Half & Half)
1 ½ cups of Sugar
1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise
8 egg yolks

In a Bain Marie(double boiler), add the cream, vanilla bean, and half the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat when mixture comes to a boil and remove the vanilla bean.

Beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a large bowl, gradually mix in the hot cream mixture, return the mixture to the Bain Marie, and continue to cook, stirring constantly until it thickens slightly (do not allow the mixture to boil, or the eggs will curdle)

Pour mixture into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Chocolate Gelato

Prepare the Gelato as above, adding 6 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder &
2 oz of Bittersweet chocolate to the cream mixture, and bring to a boil, proceed as in the vanilla gelato recipe

Fig/fruit Gelato:

Prepare the gelato as in the Vanilla recipe, but add 1 cup of peeled chopped figs, when you remove the cream egg/mixture, from the heat. You can substitute the figs with any fruit or combination of fruits.

A few helpful hints for experimenting with different fruits in gelato:
—Hard fruits such as apples and pears should be cooked first to soften them, try poaching them in zinfandel to soften them
—If using very sweet fruits you might want to reduce the amount of sugar by a ¼ cup
— I like small pieces of fruit in my gelato, but Fruit puree’s work well for a smoother consistency.
When pureeing you might want to remove any fibers or seeds by passing the puree through a strainer.

Rose Petal sorbet:
    Makes about 1 ½ pints
    1 ½ cups of sugar
    1 ½ cups of water
    8 cups of rose petals aromatic pink or red, unsprayed
    ¼ cup of orange juice
    2 egg whites

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add the rose petals, until the rose petals have wilted. Let stand for 30 minutes, refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Strain the mixture to remove the rose petals add the O.J. to the Rose sugar water and place in a gelato machine. When the mixture is semi frozen, like a slush, whip the two egg whites until soft peaks have formed and fold into the sorbet until blended.

Raspberry Mimosa Sorbet:
    Makes 1 ½ pints
    1 cup Sparkling wine
    1 cup Orange juice
    1 cup fresh raspberries
    2 egg whites

Place the O.J., Sparking wine and raspberries in the gelato machine, when slush is forming beat the egg whites into soft peaks and fold into the sorbet.