I blame the cherries.
I came around the corner and there they were. Deep red and tempting. I had to buy them. But…then what? Just devouring a pound of cherries seemed like a waste.
I pored over my recipe books hoping to find inspiration, but finding none, I turned to the Flavor Bible to find what paired well with the succulent fruit. Port, pistachio, cream, chocolate…ok, now I was getting somewhere. And I couldn’t stop thinking about eating the cherries. They looked so good.
Finally, I decided upon making my classic dark chocolate brownie and topping it with pistachio ice cream, a cherry reduction, and freshly whipped cream. It would plate well and give me a chance to work on another reduction and a nut-based ice cream. Plus, I thought the savory nature of the pistachio would balance the sweetness of the port-infused reduction.
In the end, everything went smoothly…except for the ice cream. It was the first time I ever had an ice cream curdle on me. I was working with it on the stove, stirring it and just at the moment it seemed it would be done, it separated and became a gloppy sludge. Ugh. Concerned, I took it off the stove, strained it, put it over the ice bath and stuck it in the fridge a couple hours later hoping that the cup of heavy cream I would add to it in the morning would remedy it. It did. And, though it wasn’t the silkiest, smoothest ice cream I’ve made, I was delighted with its flavor and how everything came together in the end.