Sour Cherry Gelato with Bittersweet Chocolate-Cherry Sauce

This ice cream churns to a creamy blush and is studded with garnet cherries. It is delicious on its own or with a spoonful of rich, bittersweet chocolate sauce drizzled over it.

Makes about 1 quart gelato, to serve 6

For the gelato:

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 whole vanilla bean, split
6 egg yolks
3/ 4 cup superfine sugar
Pinch of salt
4 1/2 packed cups pitted sour cherries, also known as pie cherries, cut in half
1/2 cup granulated sugar 

For the Bittersweet Chocolate-Cherry Sauce:

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup light corn syrup
8 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons salted butter
1 tablespoon Kirsch (see Note) 

To make the gelato:

Place the milk and heavy cream into a large sauce pan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pan and add the pod to the pan as well. Bring the milk and cream just to a boil but take care not to let the mixture boil over. Remove the pan from the heat.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg yolks with the superfine sugar and salt until light and thick. Whisk a small ladleful of the hot milk and cream into the eggs, whisking quickly to prevent the eggs from curdling. Add 4 or 5 more ladlefuls of the milk mixture, one at a time, whisking all the while. Pour the egg-milk mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk and cream and whisk to combine thoroughly. Cook the custard on medium-low to medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 20 minutes or until it is thick enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not let the custard boil. Remove from the heat and pour the custard into a heat-proof bowl. Remove and discard the vanilla bean pod. Cover the custard with plastic wrap, making sure to press the wrap right onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Place 3 cups of the cherries and the granulated sugar in a medium-sized sauce pan. Bring the cherries to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the sugar has melted and the cherries are soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Pass the cooked cherries through a food mill fitted with the disk with the smallest holes. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the solids. You should have about 1 1/4 cups of liquid. Put the liquid in a small sauce pan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is slightly thickened and reduced to about 1 cup. Remove the cherry syrup from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

Stir the cherry syrup into the cold custard and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled. 

Freeze the cherry custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is just about done, mix in the reserved 1 1/2 cups cherries. Transfer the ice cream to a tightly lidded container and freeze until hard.

To make the sauce:

In a medium-sized sauce pan whisk together the cocoa and heavy cream until smooth. Place the pan over medium heat and stir in the corn syrup, chocolate, and butter. Gently stir or whisk continuously until the chocolate has melted. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and let boil gently for 5 minutes, or until thickened to a sauce consistency. Remove the sauce from the heat and let cool 5 minutes. Stir in the kirsch.

To serve, scoop the ice cream into glass bowls and top with a drizzle of warm chocolate-cherry sauce.

Note: Kirsch is a clear, potent cherry brandy manufactured primarily in Germany. Use cognac as a substitute.

(Recipe from Big Night In: More Than100 Wonderful Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends Italian Style; Chronicle Books, 2008)

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