“Mangia, mangia!” It’s stenciled above the door of our dining room. “Eat, eat!” Can’t you see the Italian momma standing there invitingly waving her hands over a huge bowl of spaghetti?

Well, this week it was the Italian poppa’s turn to be in the kitchen.

In my last post I told you we’re taking a virtual food tour of Italy – trying out the recipes in two of my most beautiful Italian cookbooks. So this week John made gelato. Italian Intermezzo says, “One of Italy’s great culinary creations, gelato is an all time favorite dessert. This not-too-sweet version is a perfect finale for any dinner party.”

Gelato al Caffé

from Italian Intermezzo

John followed the recipe exactly, and it is wonderful!

3 cups whipping cream

½ cup Italian-roast coffee beans. (We used Vivace decaf.)

1/3 cup brewed espresso

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

Pour 2 cups of cream, the espresso and coffee beans into the top of a double boiler.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until it tastes strongly of coffee

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl.

Gradually stir the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks.

Return to double boiler, with barely simmering water.  Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.

Remove from heat and stir in the sugar.

Set the bowl in a larger bowl with ice cubes and stir until it is cooled.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  (We refrigerated it overnight)

Pour mixture through a sieve, and add the remaining cup of whipping cream.

We poured the cream through the sieve, and stirred the beans to wash the thick custard from them.

Mix well.

Freeze mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.  We used the ice cream attachment of our Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time and it worked perfectly!

This recipe for Gelato al Caffé was created by chef Catherine Whims of Genoa restaurant, in Portland.

Squisito! Mangia, mangia!