Thursday, June 11, 2009

Delicious Time Wasters

Filberts or Hazelnuts? I don't know why they have two names but personally, I like hazelnut. And hazelnuts. Mmm! So when I found a recipe for hazelnut gelato, I was dying to try it. Hazelnuts aren't in just any old store, but it just so happened, that when we went looking for allergy medicine, we found hazelnuts. So we got them and some cream and ice and all. It took me 3 days to make it. Because first you have to roast the hazelnuts. Supposedly, all you have to do is roast the nuts on a tray at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. When you take them out, the skins are supposed to be cracked and blistered and so you stick them in a dishtowel and rub them together and all the skins rub off. Then you toast them again till they're tan and toasty. RIGHT! After 15 minutes, some of them were a little bit more than tan. So I did the rubbing thing next. By the time the movie ended, there were about 15 of the 300 that had shed some skin. So I toasted them some more. It didn't help. They burnt. So the next day, I tried a new batch. Less time. I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed. By the time a third of them had come undressed, I decided that was it. I googled and found another possible way to blanch then roast that is supposed to be way better. I will experiment on a handful someday. Meanwhile, I finished roasting the nuts till the naked ones were toasty. Next day, I made the actual recipe. After grinding the nuts to a powder, you heat them up in the milk mixture and then you let it seep for 30 minutes. Except that life interrupted and they seeped for 2 1/2 hours. Then you strain the liquid from the nut. Several times, to get rid of all the bitter skin powder. The remaining liquid seemed a bit too strong and bitter. I added extra sugar. Not exactly a fix-all. I added more milk. Much more passable, but it wasn't going to be remarkable. So, I did the sensible thing. I added chocolate. I thought Papi was going to hate it at this point. He didn't. He said it tasted like a Ferrer Roche candy. So I froze it. And it made a ball of ice cream. Like it would easily fit in one of the little cartons of ice cream instead of the big tubs. But it turned out good.This is the closest I can get to giving you a taste.
I learned a lot about how to make it better next time. Which will not happen for a long, long time!
For an easier dish, make fruit gelato- Passion fruit gelato! It is called maracuya or maracuja in Spanish, or mariconada in Papi-ese (which is a politically incorrect way of saying dirty trick in Spanish). You do have to strain the fruit and all, but it is soooo yummy!!! Can't get enough of it!

3 comments:

* said...

Hazlenut gelato! mmmm. Do you like Nutella much (hazlenut chocolate spread)? I was so over it a few years ago but have revisited it with croissants and am in love again.

4boyzmdmom said...

That sounds like way too much work! But the end result looked yummy. The passion fruit gelato looked mouth watering!

I love Nutella on crepes with sliced bananas--yummy!

debi9kids said...

OMGosh! How yummy! That sounds fantastic, but wow, a lot of work!