Chef Z writes a regular cooking column for www.Cranford.com commencing in July, 2008...here's the first article:
JULY 4TH DESSERT SPOTTED IN ITALY!
Written by Chef Suzan Gray
They say, “truth is stranger than fiction,” and I certainly had the opportunity to experience that in May, while traveling in Italy of all places! Could it just have been a coincidence? Or was the jet lag really playing tricks with my eyes? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
I was dining at an outdoor café in Rome when I happened to spot an innocent looking couple enjoying two Italian dolci (desserts) at a nearby table. To the casual observer, this would have meant absolutely nothing, but to this chef of Italian decent, it was just too coincidental to be coincidental! I did the proverbial “double-take” with my head when I saw what they were enjoying on that warm spring evening in ancient Rome.
And now, the rest of the story: the dessert appeared to be the exact July 4th dessert that my sister and I used to create for our parents’ dinner guests during the summers of our youth. My mother, who happens to be 100% Italian, taught us how to make what she called “Fruit Floats” - parfait glasses filled with perfectly ripe red, white, and blue fruits such as sliced bananas or white peaches or fresh lychee nuts, quartered strawberries, and fresh blueberries, all floating happily in a refreshing pool of orange juice or homemade lemonade, topped with lemon sherbet, and crowned with a fresh mint sprig plucked from our modest patch in the backyard.
This refreshing, quintessentially summer dessert was created and served by my younger sister and I, much to the delight of the adult guests, who weren’t necessarily expecting two young girls aged 8 and 10 to be able to create such an impressive dessert. But, we did create them, and I recall that we were proud and they were happy, a recipe for success all around.
Well, I’m sure that the Roman version of our “fruit floats” contained gelato instead of our sherbet, but as I already confessed, I was stunned to see it there, after all these years of just being a fond childhood memory. I’ve never seen this dessert before, on any menu either here in the states or abroad, so it instantly brought me back to my summer days in Cranford and I’d like to share it with you so you and your kids can enjoy it too!
This is an easy, refreshing, no-fail July 4th dessert, and the use of red, white and blue fruits makes it just that much more fun, almost 50% more fun in fact, and anyone can make it…even the kids!
JULY 4th FRUIT FLOATS
Serves 4
Recipe by Chef Suzan Gray
Chef’s note: To properly prepare whole strawberries, place in a strainer and lightly run cool water over them. Shake off excess water and gently pat berries dry with a paper towel. Then use a small paring knife to remove the hulls. This process of washing and then drying and hulling will keep excess water from sitting inside each berry, expediting their deterioration. Any fruit can be used, as long as it is of perfect ripeness. Make up your own signature concoction, it’s really fun to do and utilizes what’s seasonally available.
Ingredients:
4 parfait glasses, pre-chilled in freezer for 30 minutes before dessert time
1 ripe white peach, peeled and cut into 8 wedges, then cut each wedge into 3 pieces
1 large ripe banana, peeled and sliced into ¼” slices
4 fresh lychee nuts, peeled and seeded (if available at your produce market)
4 large strawberries, washed, hulled and cut into 4 or 6 wedges
12 small chunks seedless watermelon, optional
1 cup fresh blueberries, or dried blueberries if necessary
4 small scoops lemon sherbet or vanilla ice cream
2 or 3 cups fresh orange juice or homemade lemonade, chilled
4 fresh mint sprigs, washed and shaken free of water
Procedure:
1. Prepare fresh fruit and divide evenly among the four pre-chilled glasses.
2. Gently scoop sherbet or ice cream and carefully place on top of fruit in the center of the glass.
3. Pour enough of the orange juice or lemonade into each glass so that the fruit floats to within 1/2” of the rim, taking care not to overflow.
4. Embed one fresh mint sprig into each scoop of sherbet or ice cream and serve with a long handled teaspoon.
Enjoy!