Peach and Pistachio Semifreddo
This versatile, luxurious, creamy, and luscious dessert is a cross between a mousse and an ice cream, and although semifreddo means “half-cold” or “half-frozen” in Italian, the dessert is, in fact, completely frozen, but not rock hard the way ice cream can be. It is also easy to make as you don’t need any special equipment, just three bowls and a whisk. This dessert has many delicious possibilities; you can vary the nuts and the fruit, add chocolate, or even some liqueur for an extra kick. Use the base recipe and have fun experimenting!
Peach and Pistachio Semifreddo
Ingredients
- 4 ounces pistachios, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste, or pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablsepoons orange blossom honey, or other perfumed honey
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 2 cups cream
- Salt
- 2 large peaches, or 3 medium peaches, quartered, pitted, and then chopped
Instructions
- Place the pistachios, sugar, and cinnamon in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and toast for 4–5minutes. They should be lightly golden brown. Leave to cool in the pan.
- Whisk the vanilla paste (or extract) and sugar with the egg yolks in a large bowl until they are pale. Whiskin the honey and set aside.
- Whisk the cream in a second bowl until soft peaks form, being careful not to overwhip them.In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form firm peaks.
- Add the toasted pistachios and chopped peaches to the egg yolk mixture, then gently fold in the whippedcream, followed by the beaten egg whites, making sure you incorporate all of them gently to capture as muchair as possible. Spoon the mixture into a shallow container, cover it, and freeze it for at least 2 hours.
Nutrition
Pascale Beale
Chef, teacher and food writer, Pascale Beale, owner of Pascale’s Kitchen, grew up in an eccentric European family who cherish food, wine and the arts. She is the author of 10 Mediterranean-style cookbooks, including the best sellers Salade and Salade II. Her food memoir, 9’ x 12’: Adventures in a Small Kitchen, a multi-media book, is hosted on Substack. Her latest cookbook is Flavour: Savouring the Seasons.
