Not to name-drop, but David Letterman was once served this and exclaimed, “Parsnip ice cream? Now you’re just showing off!”. Little did he know that a fellow Midwesterner, Jake Nemmers, one of our chefs de cuisine, had come up with the dessert. We could actually pass it off as a lighter, fresher vanilla-caramel swirl.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 6)
For the ganache
- 300g of 32% milk chocolate, roughly chopped
- 3 gelatin sheets
- 420ml heavy cream
- 180ml milk
- 2 teaspoons glucose
- 350g Parsnip Gelato
- 50g Caramelized Sesame Seeds
- Gray salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Spread the chocolate on a parchment-lined baking sheet and slide into the oven. Cook, stirring every 5 minutes, for 20 minutes or so, until the chocolate is a deep brown, the color of coffee beans. It will dry out a bit as it cooks; that’s okay.
- Transfer to a large, heatproof bowl.
- Meanwhile, bloom (soften) the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes, then squeeze out the water and set aside.
- Bring the cream and milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- Pour the hot milk and cream over the chocolate and add the gelatin and glucose. Let sit for 2 minutes, then blend with an immersion blender until smooth Cover and chill in the fridge overnight.
- Just before serving, pull the gelato from the freezer and allow it to soften for 10 minutes or so.
- Put the sesame seeds in a small shallow bowl.
- To serve, roll a generous spoonful of the ganache in the sesame seeds and place it in the bottom of a small bowl. Repeat to make a total of 6 servings. (You will have leftover ganache, which will keep for a week.)
- Top each ganache ball with a scoop of gelato and garnish each portion with a sprinkle of gray salt and a few cracks of black pepper.
