strawberry gelatin and fior di latte gelato

fragole gelatinate e gelato fior di latte

TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes plus chilling

MAKES: 4 servings

This refreshing dessert offers an exiting play on textures: cool and smooth strawberry flavored gelatin, icy fior di latte, or “milk gelato,” and sliced fresh strawberries. The gelato, with its simple, plain flavor, showcases the flavor of milk, cream and sugar making it the perfect complement to strawberries. Look for it at gelato shops or good markets. Vanilla gelato can be substituted.

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Ingredients

1 pound strawberries
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 (1/4 ounce) envelope gelatin
1 pint fior di latte or vanilla gelato

Instructions

Trim and roughly chop enough strawberries to fill 1 heaping cup. Combine the chopped berries, 1 cup water and sugar in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to dissolve sugar, then remove from heat.

Sprinkle gelatin over remaining 1/4 cup water in a small bowl and let stand 2 minutes to soften, then stir into hot water mixture until dissolved. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a shallow bowl, firmly pressing solids to extract liquid. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

Just before serving, hull and slice remaining berries and divide among serving bowls or glasses. Run a butter knife through the gelatin to finely chop. Top berries with gelatin and scoops of gelato.