Gelato alla Vaniglia con Olio d’Oliva, Sale e Succo di Limone
This dessert is inspired by the one and only Jamie Oliver, more specifically “jamie’s italy”, published in 2005. It contains a few very simple dessert recipes, and one is vanilla ice cream with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt (per serving). I have always liked it because it is easily done and mixes sweet, bitter, and salty. But I always found something was missing. And one summer, under the sun of Brittany following an extended langoustine lunch with too much chilled Muscadet in the company of great friends, it came to me: a splash of lemon juice. (Interestingly, to complete the pentagon of flavours, you can also add a bit of pepper.) I recently served this dessert to my 83-year-old godfather. As he let the first spoonful of ice cream melt on his tongue, he looked at me, squinting his eyes, frowning, then smiled and said: “this is quite disruptive.”
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servings3
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minutesIngredients
1 1 –2 scoops of vanilla ice cream (as dense as possible)
1 tsp 1 olive oil
1 tsp 1 of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pinch 1 of sea salt
Directions
- Place the vanilla ice cream in a bowl, add the olive oil, then the sea salt, and then the lemon juice.
- Serve quickly.
- Of course, and as always, the success of this dish greatly depends on the quality of the ingredients, especially the olive oil, and the sea salt. I like to use coarse “sel de Guérande” that I grind in a mortar. The vanilla ice cream can be “half decent” to quote Jamie, but it should not be too fluffy/creamy, but nice and dense.
- In the end, you will notice that vanilla ice cream is a great carrier for all sorts of flavours. The combination with Pastis, for instance, is just brilliant.
Equipment
- Serving bowl
- Ice cream scoop
Notes
- Put some olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice on the table to allow your guests to adjust flavours to their personal preference.
- The success of this dish greatly depends on the quality of the ingredients, especially the olive oil and the sea salt. I like to use coarse “sel de Guérande” that I grind in a mortar. The vanilla ice cream should not be too fluffy or creamy, but nice and dense.
- Quantities are per serving – scale up as you like.