Today we have again with us Chef Tony Mantuano from Spiaggia Restaurant in Chicago sharing with us an end-of-summer recipe for the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network: Warm Berry Soup with Mint Gelato (Macedonia ai Frutti di Bosco con Gelato alla Menta).

This recipe is featured, alongside with other dozen yummy recipes, cocktails and Chef tips, on The Spiaggia Cookbook, Eleganza Italiana in Cucina, co-authored by Chef Tony Mantuano and his wife and wine expert Cathy Mantuano. Follow the links to get the book online at Amazon or Barnes&Noble.

WARM BERRY SOUP WITH MINT GELATO
A recipe by Chef Tony Mantuano
(serves 8)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MINT GELATO

- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups loosely packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
- 1 cup liquid pasteurized egg yolks (8 egg yolks)
- 2 teaspoons green crème de menthe

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MACEDONIA

- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 4 cups mixed fresh berries, such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup raspberry sauce
- Leaves from 8 sprigs fresh mint for garnish

PREPARATION

In a saucepan, combine the milk, half-and-half, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the chopped mint and bring it to a boil. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine-mesh sieve, and return to the saucepan. Keep warm over low heat. Discard the mint.

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until combined, about 2 minutes. Gradually add half of the hot milk mixture to the egg-yolk mixture and whisk vigorously to combine. 

Return the egg-yolk mixture to the pan with the remaining milk mixture. Return to medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, 4 to 6 minutes. Do not let it boil; overheating will break the custard. Remove from the heat and continue to stir for a few seconds to keep the mixture from overcooking.

Stir in the crème de menthe. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.  Pour the custard into an ice-cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar and whisk to combine. Add the berries and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, water, and raspberry sauce and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Remove from the heat and ladle into 8 warmed bowls. Top each serving with a scoop of the gelato and garnish with mint leaves. Serve immediately.

CHEF MANTUANO’S TIPS

This soup warms both body and soul, and is easy and quick to prepare. You can substitute purchased mint gelato or ice cream for the homemade. You can prepare this recipe to serve 4, by halving the ingredient measures for the berry soup. Make the gelato as directed and serve generous portions.

Thank you Chef Mantuano for sharing this recipe with us, we look forward to having you as a guest again at Italian Food Lovers!

As you have seen from our latest post activity, we have been very busy both at Academia Barilla and at the Italian Food Lovers blog team. We didn’t forget about it, we are only late - so let us introduce you the ingredient of the month… for the month of June: strawberries!

Don’t worry, we won’t skip a month just because we are late, so expect another ingredient and recipe of the month post this month of July.

As usual, Chef Matteo Carboni from The Academia Barilla Culinary School offered to show how to make a gourmet dish, in this case a dessert, using a video recipe - we love this! So welcome today Matteo with a step-by-step preparation video on how to make a Strawberry Mousse with Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.

As Matteo tell us in the video, the ingredients we will need are about 1 pound of fresh strawberries for 6 servings, plus fresh cream, mint, icing sugar, food gelatin and Traditional Balsamic Vinager of Modena (Matteo here uses Academia Barilla’s 25-years Balsamic, which you can find at the Academia Barilla online store.

After cleaning and cutting the strawberries, Chef Carboni put them in a blender, while preparing the gelatine using a bowl of warm water and food gelatin (1 pound of gelatin for 1.3 pounds of warm water approx).

While the gelatin soaks, Che Matteo heat on a stove a third of the strawberry puree, then simmers, adds the gelatine and waits to completely melt before adding the rest of the puree. 

While the strawberry mixture cools down, Chef Carboni whips the cream, then mix it with the pure and finally filles single serve molds with the final cream. Chef Carboni suggests to prepare the mousse in advance,as the molds need to refrigerate for at least one day.

Final presentation and tasty details: some slices of strawberries, mint leaves and the final Chef touch, a few drops of a Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena aged 25-years!

Buon Appetito from the Academia Barilla Culinary School and the Italian Food Lovers blogging team - Strawberry Mousse Forever!