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Monday, July 18, 2011

Mixed Berry Gelato ...inspired by Letters to Juliet for Food 'n Flix

What if...

True love never fades.

Sophie is a fact checker for The New Yorker with a passion for writing.  Victor is a chef with a passion for food that is unrivaled.  On Sophie and Victor's pre-Honeymoon trip to Verona, their passions pull them in opposite directions. (Which makes me sad...as a person with a passion for both, they seem so obviously intertwined...but alas, this is not my story.)  For a while, Sophie trails along with Victor to beautiful vineyards and olive orchards and cheese caves.  But when he plans a truffle-digging hunt in the forest, Sophie decides to explore Verona on her own instead.  She stumbles upon the courtyard of Juliet where women are sitting and crying and writing letters which they then pin on the wall...letters to Juliet.  Fascinated, Sophie follows a basket of the day's gathered letters to the Secretaries of Juliet.  Sophie decides to join these ladies (the secretaries) in writing return letters while Victor continues his food exploration.  Apart.  Everything changes for Sophie when she discovers a 50 year old letter tucked behind a loose stone on the wall.  She discovers "a story worth telling" when she reads Claire's letter to Juliet.

Claire and her grandson Charlie travel to Verona and meet up with Sophie who joins them on Claire's quest to find "her Lorenzo".  Memories of sharing bread with tomatoes and olive oil and perhaps losing out on a true love that has haunted her for half a century fuel a quest around Tuscany.  A new love story develops between Sophie and Charlie (as Sophie and Victor grow farther and farther apart)...one they try to resist.  While there were many food inspirations for me in this film, such as homemade pasta and a perfect risotto and cheese...olive oil...bread...truffles...I chose to make gelato.  Inspired by the the scene in which Sophie and Charlie sit and eat gelato and find themselves getting along.
Mixed Berry Gelato
adapted from Scoop
yield: ~1 quart

¾ c. fresh blueberries
¾ c. fresh strawberries, hulled
½ c. super fine sugar
1½ c. whole milk
1 c. heavy cream
¼ c. light corn syrup
¼ tsp. kosher salt
3 Tbs. nonfat dry milk powder
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine berries, sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often.  Reduce heat and simmer berries for 3 minutes.  Pour into a blender jar and purée.  Transfer back to a saucepan.

Add milk, ½ cup of the cream, corn syrup, and salt to the pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture begins to steam (without letting it come to a boil).

While the mixture is heating, combine remaining cream, ilk powder, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a small bowl, and stir until smooth and powders are dissolved.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and bring to a boil, over low heat, stirring constantly.  Whisk the mixture until smooth and simmer over very low heat for 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly.  If lumpy, strain through a sieve.
Transfer hot liquid to a bowl or storage container and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard.  This will prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Freeze mixture in an ice cream machine.  Serve immediately for a luxurious, soft gelato, or else transfer themixture to an airtight storage container and freeze until hard.  You'll have to let the gelato sit at room temperature for around 15 minutes before scooping, if frozen hard.
"Life is the messy bits." ~Claire to her grandson Charlie 

Kim of Stirring the Pot is hosting Food 'n Flix: Letters to Juliet this month.  There's still time to join in before the month is over!
Food‘nFlix
I am also sharing this post with:
SweetToothFriday sweets for a saturday midnight maniac meatless monday veganmondays my meatless mondays ThisWeeksCravingsButton

Would you like to comment?

  1. Please Please come link this up to my ICE CREAM party this week!

    What have you been up to lately.. I feel like I never talk to you since I don't visit every week for the linky party? Are you missing it at all?

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  2. Wow - lots of work but I love gelatto. I may give it a go.

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  3. I haven't made ice cream in a while...I love the color...I bet I would love it.

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  4. Ahora mismo me comía yo un heladito de estos. Que buenos.

    Saludos

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  5. OMG, this look heavenly! Bookmarked it to try one of this day.
    Kristy

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  6. Once again our great minds are thinking alike. I just made a lemon gelato for my F'nF dish. ;-) I love this mixed-berry version though and you can never have too much ice cream!
    Fun!

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  7. Gorgeous! Bookmarking this to make asap!

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  8. That awas one of my favourite movies; I cried and laughed. your gelato is inspriring me...looks so good!
    Rita

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  9. Yum! Gelato is such a wonderful, rich indulgence. Yours looks tremendous! Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Looks fantastic. Beautiful picture.

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  11. This looks just amazing. You make me want to see that movie!

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  12. If anything can bring people together, it's gelato! That's for sure. I love how berryful this is!

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  13. Yum, yum, yum!!!! This looks fantastic!

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  14. I love the story and the gelato.

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  15. Great story and gelato also! Yum! I'm drooling now!

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  16. Lovely choice for this delicious fun movie. This looks so luxurious and creamy, and I am loving how easy the recipe is. Well done!

    Maria
    A Platter of Figs

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  17. I haven't seen that movie, but it sounds like a good one. The gelato is really lovely- I'm bookmarking it to make next week. I'm a berry fan, and this looks like I could eat it right off of my computer screen. I'm sure it's dripping onto my keyboard! :)

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  18. I haven't seen the movie yet, but want to. I also want some of this ice cream, like now :)

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  19. Your gelato looks soooo good! It must be pretty hot up there...hehe! It's hard photographing ice cream when it's hot out.

    I loved this movie. I saw it twice when it was at the dollar movie theater...I couildn't resist it was so beautiful. Which is good for me because I think that was the last movie I saw (in a theater that is)...oh wait I saw Tangled since then.

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  20. I've never seen this movie but the gelato looks delicious and it's such a beautiful color too.

    I just saw some mascarpone gelato with berries the other day and it was so tasty (I only had a sample but wish I had more!)

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  21. Perfect selection for the F n F group. Have been with family in the midwest so have not completed mine, but something cold will be posted . July isn't over yet. If I remember correctly, you live in the NY area??? If so, I hope you're staying cool with the temps i've seen reported there. This would help me chill, that's for sure, Heather!

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  22. Yum- made with whole milk and cream. You know that is some creamy stuff! Love the combo of the berries. Looks delicious. Thanks for having me host this round!

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  23. This is great... I have always wondered how gelato is made.

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