Europe is home to beautiful ice cream. In Bologna is Il Gelatauro, a pocket-sized location nestled within an arched terracotta-coloured walkway, one of many in the city designed to shelter locals from the sun.
The gelateria was recommended to me by two pizzaiolos – Matteo and Salvatore Aloe, the duo behind the sourdough pizza group Berbere – and it brings profound joy. At Il Gelatauro, only the most natural and fresh ingredients are used. The fruit is only ever seasonal, and so the menu changes much like the menu at a restaurant. Sorbets might be prickly pear or Sicilian oranges; ice creams include dark chocolate or pistachio, the latter using nuts from the town of Bronte. The pistachio is what I chose and it might be the best I’ve tasted.
Italy is home to so many hole-in-the-wall ice cream shops. In Florence, hidden in the city’s winding, medieval streets, is Gelateria Della Passera, an award-winning organic shop five minutes from the towering Basilica di Santo. Close by is a nondescript place where tripe is steamed, drizzled in garlic-hewn olive oil and topped with parsley, and snugly cloaked in Tuscan bread rolls. This might be a dish to precede the sweetness of gelato.
At Gelateria Della Passera, ice cream is afforded the same grace and favour as it is at Il Gelatauro. Similarly, it is diminutive in size but monolithic in stature. There some years ago, after a tour – the late Carrie Fisher and her excellent dog, Gary, had taken the same one only hours before – I tried a pot of morello cherry. Comfortably my favourite flavour bar none.
Beyond the fior di latte, hazelnut and stracciatella of Italy, ice cream shops worth a visit are plentiful elsewhere in Europe. La Greche, in Athens, was founded by a Greek who trained in Bologna, and it is a charming shop in the shadow of the Acropolis. The ice cream brings a wealth of natural flavour and classics are made diligently. But there is a little fun and experimentation, too, the sort Italians might scoff at given their penchant for the traditional.
I was hot and bothered when I visited, so had two scoops – one of fig, another of lemon sorbet. The first proved refreshing, the second almost unbearably luxurious. It is dessert worth queuing for, even in the sweltering heat of Athens. A mention too for Jones in Berlin, where flavours are crafted in small batches. It is a place for varieties spun with brownie chunks or cookie dough.
Right, well, a recipe, then. Henrique Sá Pessoa, the Portuguese chef behind the newly opened JOIA in Battersea, makes a goat’s cheese ice cream. It’s different and absolutely worth trying.
Goat’s cheese ice cream
Serves 12
Ingredients
700g chèvre bûches (Goat cheese)
1.2 litres water
500g sugar
4 litres whole milk
100g skimmed milk powder
200g egg yolk
30g rosemary
2 peels of lemon strip
50g salt
Method
Place the chèvre logs in the freezer. Roughly peel the logs and reserve in a container.
In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, whole milk, skimmed milk powder, egg yolks, salt, rosemary and the lemon peel.
Bring to 40ºC and stir constantly.
Heat the mixture to 80ºC and pour over the chèvre logs, straining through a chinois to remove rosemary and lemon peels. Blend until the cheese is fully incorporated in the ice cream base.
Place in a fridge for 12 hours.
Blend the mixture again, strain through a chinois sieve before freezing again.
