In my never-ending quest to challenge my taste buds, I am trying new combinations for gelato’s. As blueberries and corn are in season, I thought, well, why not? Pecans work well with blueberries, let’s add some! Low and behold, it was delicious! I also tried something new, adding 1/4 cup alcohol to have a softer serve on the ice cream and it really works! The only mistake I made was using rum, too pungent for delicate berries and sweet corn. I’m thinking something like a dessert wine might work really well. You don’t have to add the alcohol, you will then need to remove ice cream from freezer 10 minutes before serving. Happy experimenting!
Recipe
2 cups blueberries, well rinsed
2 ears corn, steamed and grains cut from stalk
1/2 cup pecans
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3/4 cups cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash salt
Instructions
Make simple syrup: bring to a boil sugar & water and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Place in the fridge to chill. Cook ears of corn in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, allow to cool before cutting corn off the cob. Place corn nibblets in fridge to cool completely. Heat a small cast iron pan on medium heat, add butter and when sizzling, add pecans and cinnamon, stir to combine and allow pecans to caramelize. Add maple syrup, stirring occasionally until sticky. Remove from heat and scoop onto parchment paper and allow to cool completely before roughly chopping, set aside. Place blueberries and corn in blender with simple syrup, pulse to combine but not too much, you want small bits of fruit throughout. Add cream and blend to combine. If mixture is cold, continue to freezing in ice cream machine or place in fridge to chill thoroughly before adding to ice cream machine. When ice cream is almost completely solid, add candied pecans and alcohol if using. Remove ice cream and store in container in the freezer. Makes 6-8 portions. Keeps in the freezer up to a month. Enjoy!
I truly wish this weather would clear up. Montreal is such a sunny beautiful city and spring is spectacular. This spring however has been so grey and rainy… I want to feel sun on my skin, have a picnic in the park, cocktails on a terrasse, eat supper on my terrasse. I’m sure you get the picture! And I guess I should be grateful that I’m not affected like some in the area have been with flooding. Still, don’t we all deserve some summer weather after going through a long winter? Plus, I’m concerned how this affects local farming 😦 Here’s to hoping summer hits us with its sunny skies and steamy heat!
Celestine Cooks for One 