Semifreddo and a one dish composed dessert

On the prowl once again for a weekend supper dessert idea, I decided to make a semifreddo to pair with something warm and fruity. Cherry berry pistachio crumble with vanilla almond semifreddo it is!

Semifreddo is Italian for "half-cold" and is a molded, creamy dessert that's in the "still frozen" category, meaning it isn't churned like ice creams and sorbets before freezing. There are numerous flavor possibilities with coffee, chocolate, citrus or a fruit purée of one's choosing among the many.

Its base is similar to an Italian zabaglione or French sabayon in which egg yolks, sugar and a liquid like Marsala (the classic in Italy), Champagne, Prosecco, red or white wine, citrus (or other fruit) juice or a liqueur are whisked over a bain marie until lightened, foamy and thickened.

In this case I whisked 80 ml (1/3 cup) vanilla simple syrup (essentially combining my sugar and liquid before hand) with 3 egg yolks until thickened and lighter. Here’s what it looks like at the start -

and it becomes thicker and more pale as you whisk.

A zabaglione or sabayon in its pristine form is often served warm just after preparation, perhaps with fresh fruit, but in this case I cooled it over an ice bath in preparation for the next step.

When you take a zabaglione/sabayon to the next level and fold either whipped cream or a meringue into the chilled base, it becomes a semifreddo (or a French parfait - confused yet?).

Here I’ve whipped cream to soft peaks . . . .

and blended it into the yolk/sugar syrup base. I also added some toasted sliced almonds for crunch.

The mixture can be placed in one large plastic-wrap-lined mold such as a simple loaf pan (as I’ve done here) or a fluted bowl, or can be portioned into small silicone molds, available in an appealing assortment of shapes and sizes.

Fold the plastic wrap snugly over the mixture and freeze at least for several hours. But wait! . . . one of the beauties of this is you can have it ready and waiting in your freezer even days or a couple of weeks ahead of serving. Talk about being prepared.

To achieve my fruity, crunchy composed result I made up a big batch of a favorite almond/hazelnut crumble we used to make during my stage at Pascal Pinaud’s pâtisserie in Paris’ 5th arr.

60 g almond flour, 180 g hazelnut flour, 240 g sugar, 240 g all purpose flour, 6 g salt all mixed up in a bowl. Add 240 g cool, diced butter and sand it into the dry ingredients to achieve coarse crumbs.

Now you have a choice. Your crumble can be baked ahead to use as a crisp, buttery topping for whatever - a tart, a custard, some ice cream or fruit, or even your morning oatmeal or yogurt. Keeping the crumble separate and adding it as a topping just before serving keeps it from getting soggy. You can freeze it already baked and have it ready for upcoming projects.

Or you can bag up the unbaked raw mixture, freeze it and, when ready, throw some on top of yet-to-bake fruit crisp, cake batter, a rustic galette or anything else you can think of to yield a crispy baked topping for your dessert.

When I bake my crumble ahead, I bake at 350º for about 20 minutes, stirring it up every 5 minutes or so with a bench scraper until lightly browned and set.

Below is a nicely baked tray of delicious crumble.

Now onto the fruit part.  So it's still winter, after all, but I was going for cherries and berries for this dessert. That's the beauty of IQF (individually quick frozen) fruit that's available in the grocery stores all year round.

I have these great little square ramekins that I bought at Crate and Barrel some years back.  They hold just the right amount for a not too generous dessert portion. To fill six of them I used 340 gm (12 oz) frozen pitted sweet cherries and about a cup and a half of mixed blueberries and raspberries. I tossed them in a mixture of 85 gm (generous 1/3 cup) sugar, 10 gm (~ 1TBSP) cornstarch, the zest of half a lemon, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon coriander. Topped with some unbaked pistachio crumble that I had in my freezer (told you I was on a nut kick), they're ready for the oven.

Bake at 325º for about 40-45 minutes until the crumble is lightly browned and the fruit is bubbly.

When it came time for dessert, I scooped some semifreddo onto the still warm fruit, sprinkled some baked hazelnut-almond crumble on top and drizzled a bit of caramel over it all.

Delicious!

So use your imagination and create your own composed dessert. Having the contrast in textures (creamy, fruity, crunchy) and temperatures (warm and cool) is oh so wonderful. And remember -  it doesn't have to be fussy, difficult or fancy - just tasty!