Gelato

Gelato
Originally uploaded by Suzi Edwards

What an amazing weekend! It was about 22 degrees in Calgary, so everyone was walking the streets semi-naked.

Of course when it's hot, it's gelato time* and I was lucky enough to find an interesting spot in Kensington.

So do you know what the difference is between ice-cream and gelato? I always prefered gelato. It was lighter and the flavours truer than ice-cream (although I'm never going to pass up a scoop of any icey-goodness, if the truth be told). Turns out that gelato is made with milk (generally full-cream, natch) but generally speaking, the fat content is much lower than that of ice-cream (7-10%, as opposed to 15+%), which is made using a hell of a lot of a cream (the clue's in the name, see?). You'll also find that a lot less air is added during the commercial gelato making process (cos traditionally, they'd use a really long wooden spoon), meaning that you're getting a denser, richer product. Which also means it melts more easily, as you'll see in the photo. Not that I believe Fiasco stir their gelato with a wooden spoon. It's the march of progress. *Big sigh*.

Hazelnut is my gelato flavour of choice, followed by strawberry. Or Ferrero Rocher. This developed during a lovely trip to Sirmione, where every day I intended to try a different gelato, but just couldn't get past the hazelnut. It can be an elusive flavour; if too much sugar has been added, the roasty, toasty flavour of the hazelnut is lost. It's also a bitch to make.

I think I am in a position to give you a round up of where to get the best hazelnut gelato...

1. Gelateria Cafe 2000. Sydney. Tonino Lo Iacono is Sydney's best gelato maker. I'd walked past this place a hundred times before I popped in, and my tongue nearly fell out of my mouth when I tried his hazelnut gelato. He makes tiny batches, all by hand and even makes his own fruit/nut bases. Sadly many people use commercial bases these days. He even grinds his hazelnuts by hand, to make sure that his hazelnut gelato is perfect.

2. Scoop. London. Everyone was wetting their pants about this place when it opened. London isn't really a gelato town...Let's just say that it was a good job I had left for Sydney when this place opened. It's about 150 meters from my old office. My gelato was served by a 13 year old boy. I'd like to see more child labour in the gelato industry.

3. Any gelato place in Sirmione, Lake Garda. Really. Just go. It's a lovely trip. I can recommend some hotels if you'd like. And a great place for osso bucco.

4. Fiasco. Calgary. OK, so it's probably not a world's best and the caramel gelato was just yeuck (think foamy, sugary nothingness, rather than strident, almost burnt caramel which I was expecting) but the hazelnut was pretty damn good. They'd got the sugar balance right and there was that extra creamyness that you get from the hazelnuts. Very yum.

Gelateria Cafe 2000 is at 650 Darling Street, Rozelle, Sydney. They also serve a limited Italian menu, which is variable in quality but earnest in its authenticity. I'd just have the gelato and a flat white, to be honest.

Scoop is at 40 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden, London.

Fiasco has three locations. Check out their website for more details.

*Actually, I don't really care if it's hot, I'll eat gelato anytime, but I wanted to gloat about the weather. You'll get your own back when I am snowed in, eating triscuits.

Herbies, Rozelle

Deciding where to live in a new country is hard. I posted on a couple of food forums asking for help and I am still working out if the suggestion of Redfern was a joke. My criteria were quite simple; good fishmonger, butcher, bakery and grocer all within walking distance of each other. I'd got used to not using the supermarket when I lived in Islington, managing with a weekly organic box delivery and the local great butcher, although the winter when I got so serious about food miles that I only ate locally sourced produce will never be repeated. There are only so many things you can do with a swede.

We haven't done too badly with Balmain. It's centrally located so anything that isn't in the suburb is in the next, and Sydney suburbs are really small, so the difference between Balmain and Rozelle is barely noticeable. We're eating mainly vegetarian at the moment so haven't troubled the butcher yet, but I am looking forward to getting to know the guys at AC Meats in Leichhard. Emile's Fruit and Veg seems to be catering to my fruit and vegetable needs, although my lovely new bike means that I am going to be able to get to the farmers market really easily. Once I stop falling off.

But no-one told me about our local amazing food shop. Herbie's Spices is a food mecca. It's only tiny, but this is the sort of store that you'd cross town for. I've just started to stock my pantry so I was just there for the basics but I felt like a WAG in the Selfridges sale. It's quite simply the best selection of spices I have ever seen.

I picked up some garam masala, ground ginger, and some slightly cheaty sambar power to make a vegetarian feast. So last night was lots of dhal, chana masala, garlic naan and brown rice. I'm also on a real allspice kick at the moment and tonight was a roasted pumpkin salad.

Ingredients:
750 grammes of pumpkin and butternut squash (you could use either, I was emptying the fridge)
100g chickpeas (I used tinned because I am not organised enough to soak dried pulses)
1tsp allspice
1 clove of garlic, pounded to a slurry with a pinch of salad in your pestle and mortar
couple of handfuls of wild rocket
1-2 tbsps olive oil

Dressing
3tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
Another clove of garlic, pounded
warm water to thin

Preheat the oven to about 200 degrees. Begin by peeling and chopping your pumpkin/squash into inch large chunks. Don't go too small or you'll be left with minuscule pieces. Add the allspice, garlic and oil and mix well. Roast the pumpkin for about 20 minutes, or until it's starting to go all roasty and stick to the bottom of the pan. If your oven is fan assisted, I suggest you turn it off, as I find this can make your veggies steam rather than roast.

While your pumpkin is roasting, mix the tahini, rest of the garlic, lemon juice and oil together. It might all seize up, especially if you add the lemon to the tahini first, but the water is there to thin it down. You want the consistency of single cream.

Assemble your salad with the rocket at the bottom, then the pumpkin and chickpeas. Drizzle the tahini sauce over the top. Eat while watching the first night of Australian Big Brother.