Gelato di Cioccolato e Menta

The last couple of years we have managed to escape the Melbourne winter by flitting over to Malta to bask in the warm Mediterranean sun and enjoy time with family and friends.Unfortunately, due to family commitments here we were unable to go to Malta this year and so we've had to endure the cold and wet. Needless to say it has been a long and gloomy winter and we're all well and truly over it!

Our little girl Lucia despises winter and many a cold and miserable morning she has raised a tiny fist at the storm clouds and cried 'when will it stop mama, when will the sun shine'? Hence the other day when she asked the same old question, yet again I quickly replied 'when you see blossoms on the trees sabiħa, that is when you will know that spring is around the corner'.

And so the other day while I was in the car doing the mad dash to get the kids to school in time Lucia screamed at the top of her voice 'LOOK MAMA BLOSSOMS'! Her older brother Dante calmly responded with 'I guess that means it's time to start making ice cream again mama'.

And so the chocolate and mint gelato recipe below is an adaptation of Marcella Hazan's famous gelato di cioccolato del Cipriani. Hence, if you have yet to try 'the world's best chocolate ice cream' then you haven't really lived!

Gelato di Cioccolato e Menta



Adapted from Marcella's Italian Kitchen



Ingredients



4 organic egg yolks
 


130g caster sugar



500ml full fat organic milk 



100g Lindt Mint Intense



40g of 100% Dutch cocoa powder



Method



1. Combine eggs yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and creamy.

2. Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan, then add it to the beaten yolks, trickling it in slowly and steadily and mixing it in with the whisk.



3. Melt the chocolate in the upper half of a double boiler, then pour it into the bowl containing the egg yolks and milk mixture, mixing it in thoroughly with the whisk. Add and mix in the cocoa.



4. Transfer the contents of the bowl to a saucepan, turn the heat to medium, and stir until all components of the mixture are well combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. When it is cool, place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Put the mixture in your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturers instructions.

Nanette Johnson is a food and travel writer from Australia and Editor-in-Chief for Gourmet Worrier. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.