Cook with Us #18 – Watermelon and Vanilla Gelati

Hello, my fellow Steemians! After taking a week off from the cookwithus challenge I'm back this week for the Ice Cream challenge. Ice cream has been around for a long time. In the 13th century, Marco Polo returned to Italy with a recipe that resembles what we know as sherbert today. Historians say this recipe evolved into ice cream in the 16th century. Cream Ice as it was known was reserved for royalty and high society. It wasn't until the mid-1600's that ice cream was available to the general public. The first mention of ice cream in the new world was in the New York Gazette on May 12, 1777, it was an advertisement that ice cream was available "almost every day". It is said that George Washington spent 200 dollars on ice cream during the summer of 1790.

When I was growing up a little Italian Ice/ Ice cream shop opened up about 5 minutes from my house. Jerimiah's Italian Ice has grown into a Florida institution. Their main dish is the gelati, a layered parfait of Italian ice and ice cream. I'm going to recreate this delicious parfait and even try to improve it a little. Watermelon Italian ice with vanilla ice cream and I'm gonna add some chocolate chips to the ice.

Ingredients:
For Ice cream:
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
3 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract

For Italian Ice:
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lime juice
3 cups of pureed watermelon
1 cup of chocolate chips

The night before you make the ice cream put your freezer bowl in the freezer. Grab a mixing bowl and a hand mixer. On a low-speed mix milk, sugar and the salt until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cream and vanilla and cover the bowl and place in the freezer for 2 hours. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour mixture into frozen freezer bowl and let it mix until it has thickened, about 35 minutes. Your Ice cream will have a soft and creamy texture. Transfer to a bowl and place in freezer. Put freezer bowl back into the freezer.

Cook the sugar, lime juice, and water over medium heat stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and place in an ice bath until chilled. Cut the watermelon into chunks and puree in a food processor. When your syrup has cooled combine with watermelon and chocolate chips and add to frozen freezer bowl. Turn on ice cream maker and let it run for 30 minutes. Transfer to bowl and freeze.

Take a cup and layer ice cream and ice and serve immediately. I served some fresh watermelon with the parfait. The refreshing taste of watermelon and ice cream makes a great treat on a hot Florida day. Alright, that's all I got this time around. Let me know how you liked the gelati. Bon Appetit! - @slowcookingchef

Kitchen Music: Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher