Sweet dreams are made of this
What do you do when you want to know how to make the perfect iced treat? Head to gelato university
FROM eating it at backyard family dinners in summer and enjoying it as a holiday treat in Noosa, to eating it with her Nonna and Nonno in Italy, gelato has always been a part of Lisa Valmorbida’s life.
“Gelato was always there,” writes Lisa in her new book, Pidapipo: Gelato Eight Days a
Week. “It just took me a while to notice it.”
As an adult, her love for the popular iced treat led her on a journey to Italy to discover how to make truly authentic gelato.
She enrolled in a course at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, learning the artform and precise calculations involved in making gelato, and later worked at Gelateria Alberto Marchetti, one of the best gelaterias in Turin.
Now Lisa owns two gelato stores in Melbourne, named Pidapipo, which is an Italian game similar to Simon Says.
With quirky illustrations and evocative vintage family photos, Pidapipo: Gelato Eight Days a Week features 60 of Lisa’s cool and creamy creations such as brioche with pistachio gelato and whipped cream, raspberry and rose bombe alaska, and a cookie sandwich loaded with peanut butter and chocolate fudge gelato.
Mango sorbetto with white chocolate mousse SERVES: 8 Ingredients
800g (8 scoops) mango sorbetto (below)
WHITE MOUSSE: CHOCOLATE
175g white chocolate, broken into small chunks 4 egg yolks 50g caster sugar 400ml pouring cream 1 tsp gelatine powder 1-2 tbsp filtered water
Method
To make the white chocolate mousse, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.
Add the egg yolks and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment added and beat together until thick, pale and doubled in volume.
Whisk the cream in a bowl until soft peaks form.
Add the gelatine to a small bowl, cover with the water and stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Add a few spoonfuls of the beaten egg yolk mixture to the gelatine and mix together, then spoon this mixture into the bowl of the electric mixer with the rest of the beaten egg yolks and beat to combine. Pour in the melted white chocolate, beating as you go, then fold in the whipped cream to form a light, airy mousse.
Spoon the mousse into eight serving bowls and transfer to the fridge to chill until set. When ready to serve, take the mousse out of the fridge and top each bowl with a scoop of mango gelato.
MANGO SORBETTO: Ingredients
400g mango flesh 380g filtered water 2.5g carob bean powder 220g caster sugar
Method
Put the mango and water in a bowl and blend with a handheld blender until smooth.
Put the carob bean powder in a separate bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and mix together well.
Gradually add the carob powder and sugar mixture to the mango mixture, blending all the while, until well combined.
Add the rest of the sugar and blend to incorporate, then transfer to a suitable lidded container and leave to cool in the freezer for 15–20 minutes, or until the mixture drops to 4C. Turn on your gelato maker so it begins the freezing process.
Pour the mixture into your gelato maker. Once the mixture reaches –4C (this should take about 30 minutes) detach the canister or scoop the gelato into a pre-cooled lidded container. Transfer to the freezer and leave for at least 1 hour to harden before serving. This is an edited extract from
Pidapipo by Lisa Valmorbida, published by Hardie Grant Books, $40, and is available in stores nationally. Copyright photography Lauren Bamford and Jesper Hede 2017. Illustrator: Jean Jullien.