SHF5: Vanilla Ice Cream with Pomegranate Molasses & Puff Pastry Hearts

click to enlarge

I'd debated with myself endlessly over the past few weeks about what I would enter into Sugar High Fridays 5, kindly hosted by Clement over at a la cuisine!. Initially I was excited about the challenge, and since I hadn't made puff pastry dough in years, I even felt energized at the thought of rolling my sleeves up and tying on my apron.

Fast forward two weeks and two batches of dough later. While things actually went pretty well, I wasn't particularly enamored of the process and not overly thrilled with the results. I decided that ready-made puff pastry would fit the bill nicely, allowing me to concentrate on the rest of the ingredients. I should have known that once I got easy with the dough, I wanted easy with the rest, too.

Pomegranates have been pretty high up there on my favourite new ingredients list lately, and I thought they might feature nicely in a Valentine's Day-themed dessert. It's just the thing to finish a special meal- make ahead components, quick and easy assembly, and colourful presentation. The vanilla ice cream, from Falling Cloudberries, is dead easy to make (no machine required) and very, very rich. The pomegranate molasses was made by reducing the juice with a bit of sugar for the briefest amount of time, and the puff pastry hearts, well... I rolled the dough out, cut the shapes, sprinkled them with a bit of caster sugar, and popped them in the oven for 4 minutes. You could do them in advance as well.

The presentation? Pick one romantic, flower-strewn plate, swirl a spoonful or two of pomegrante molasses in the center, deposit one largish blob of ice cream, garnish with pom pips and chopped pistachios (or other nuts or even chocolate curls, if you'd prefer), place the puffed hearts along the edge (together, of course), and grab two spoons. If you are so inclined, you could make a pseudo-sci fi flower pod from pips and camelia leaves as I did, but experience tells me that you might be robbed of your "gosh, this is all so easy" vibe. It did have a strange beauty to it at the time, though.

I am glad that Clement chose puff pastry as the star ingredient this month; I probably wouldn't ever have revisited puff pastry otherwise. But, I have also been reintroduced to frozen dough, and I'll definitely use that again....thanks Clement!

Comments

[Alice]

Great minds think alike! Your dish looks wonderful and the ice cream with pomegranate molasses sounds like a wonderful accompaniment to the puff pastry! Mine was meant to be a dish for two as well....what a nice Valentine's Day treat!

[Nic]

Moria - Your entry is beautiful. Guess what I'm using as my desktop wall paper now! Thanks.

[Moira]

Hi Alice-

I thought yours was fab, too...Happy Valentine's!

Hi Nic,

I am very honoured to have my photo featured on your desktop! Thank you so much!

Cheers,
Moira

[Cat]

Hi Moira -
Maybe this is a stupid question but I've never been involved with a Sugar High Friday and was wondering if I have to do anything special or if I could just submit a recipe/photo?

I'm really inspired by your beautiful submission and thought I might like to try my hand at it.

Cheers-
Cat

[Moira]

Hi Cat,

I've emailed you a link to Clement's site with all of the details, but I'll include here as well:

http://www.alacuisine.org/alacuisine/2005/01/announcing_suga.html#comments

Thank you for your lovely comments!

[Giao]

Moira, that photo is GORGEOUS. What a glorious presentation! And with pomegranates, superb! Happy V Day!!

[Moira]

Hi Giao,

You are such a sweetie! Happy Valentine's to you, too!

[ejm]

I'm really intrigued about the pomegranate molasses. I love pomegranates; they are usually astronomically expensive and not that great looking here though. I haven't actually seen pomegranate juice for sale, but then I haven't actually looked for it either. Is the juice just simply pulped pomegranate?

Nice idea use a heart shaped cutter for the puffpastry.

-Elizabeth

[Moira]

Hi Elizabeth,

It was SO easy and, yes, I used the juice from one pomegranate. I think it was equal to about three-quarters of a cup. I only squashed about half of the pips, but I don't really think much juice came from them anyway. I don't know what's actually in bottled pomegranate juice, but I think it's pretty expensive, too. Plus, I think it's supposed to be "in" this year, so that might raise the price even further.

Did you know that grenadine was from pomegranate juice? I drank a lot of 'Shirley Temples' when I was little and never realized just how exotic they really were. Well, maybe 'exotic' isn't exactly the right word...;-)

I'm glad you like the hearts (at least the way they look, right?). Let me know how your phyllo purses work out!

Cheers,

[ejm]

Did you squash it the way you would squeeze juice from a lemon?

I did not know that about grenadine. I also don't think I've ever tasted grenadine. I had a misspent youth but it didn't involve hanging out in bars and drinking Shirley Temples. ;^)

I just found a site that describes how to make grenadine
http://www.drinkalizer.com/definitions/grenadine.php

Wow, four pomegranates make 2 cups of syrup! That's rather surprising. I would have thought it would be much less.

[Moira]

Yes, I squeezed it just like you do with a lemon. You probably could use a reamer and a sieve to get every last drop if you didn't need to keep any of the pips pretty.

That recipe makes a lot! What would a regular person do with two cups of grenadine? I guess if you were planning a big party, but who actually makes drinks with grenadine outside of bars?

And for the record, you don't know what you missed out on by not bellying up to the bar for a 'Shirley Temple'. I guess it's not surprising that I hate Maraschino cherries after all.

[Bakerina]

I do believe you have outdone yourself, dear Moira, which is no small feat. These are just beautiful. I just received my order of vanilla beans from Penzeys Spices, and my local market still has pomegranates, so I just might give it a try.

I have to admit that I like making puff pastry, but I'd like it a lot more if I had a nice big dough sheeter... ;)

[Kimberly]

Oh my, Moira, that looks glorious! Your color sense and photography, as well as the food that you present, are really lovely.

[ejm]

And yet I managed to learn to dislike maraschino cherries anyway! Maybe I didn't miss out on so much after all.

Bakerina, it just occurred to me. I wonder if one could use a hand crank pasta maker set to the widest level and just crank the pastry through there.

[Moira]

Hello Ms. Bakerina,

Thank you, oh great one! I had a good time putting it all together and I really loved the vanilla ice cream- something that I only started appreciating as an adult. Have you used Penzey's before? I've seen them mentioned in Cook's Illustrated, but I've never ordered anything myself.

Hi Kimberly,

Thanks so much for leaving such a lovely comment! I really liked how this combination of ingredients looked, and the dish is part of my maternal great-grandmother's wedding set- I was really pleased to be able to use it.

Hi Elizabeth,

And I thought I was the only one!

Cheers all,

[Clement]

Hi Moira - Your dish looks wonderful! I can imagine how great all three components must taste together. Thanks so much for taking part in SHF 5!

[Jessica]

Hey Moira,
Do you think you could post the recipe for the ice cream? I'm dying for a good ice cream recipe that doesn't require a machine.

[Julie]

Moira, this looks glorious. Clearly I'm going to have to get a copy of Falling Cloudberries. We got an ice-cream maker for Christmas, and I haven't yet found my ultimate vanilla, although I've tried a few recipes. Ahhh, pomegranates, how perfect for Valentine's Day. They are so romantic, aren't they? I have to tell you that I had an exquisite treat yesterday that you would clearly appreciate: a pomegranate doughnut, from New York's The Doughnut Plant. A must-try on your next trip to NYC...

[rowena]

Moira, that is perfect and simple...I like the idea of the pomegranate sauce!

Well, that's the last time that I participate in something like this. My entry wasn't even mentioned on clements site.....did I miss something? Is it mandatory to be part of a particular food forum? It really is a letdown after I had put all that effort in typing it up. Oh well...

[Jeanne]

Wow - that looks so fab! Obviously great minds think alike with the heart-shaped puffs... ;-) I am really keen to try the ice cream and I'm heartened by the fact that you didn't use an ice-cream maker. When you live with a "furnished" rented kitchen and plan to move to another continent in the kind-of-foreseeable future, ice-cream makers are just not on the shopping list!! Thanks for sharing this lovely contribution with us.

[Moira]

Hello Clement,

Thank you so much for hosting and coming up with such a great theme! I'm really feeling a bit ashamed of my entry now- the pastry played only a supporting role in mine and was the star in every other entry. You own was so fantastic, so creative and well thought-out. Oh, well- I'll have to redeem myself at one of the many events coming up...lots of chances to grow!

Hi Jessica,

I'll email you the recipe!

Hi Julie,

You are very, very sweet, but c'mon. Your cannoleon is a triumph! Obviously, I'm going to have to start channelling you and your creativity...WOW.

I'll have to remember that pomegranate donut for sure. I would love to hit N.Y.C. next time we're stateside...probably in a couple of years.

Hi Rowena,

It seems that everything worked out o.k. with the round-up! I'm sure it gets confusing with so many entries and emails coming in at the same time...

Hello Jeanne,

Yes, but this great mind could *never* have cut her hearts freehand like you did! I'm not kidding- I had a cookie cutter, but it never would have occurred to me to make the hearts if I hadn't! They probably would've looked more like an *actual* heart if I had.;-)

I've emailed you the recipe for the vanilla ice cream...

Cheers all,

[Keiko]

Another entry from the Tessa's book! It looks so yummy... I can imagine that vanilla ice cream and pomegranate molasses work really well. I think I'm going to make my ice cream now!

[Jennifer]

Goreous, absolutely gorgeous! And ice cream without an ice cream maker? I HAVE to get the recipe!

[Moira]

Hi Keiko,

I know, her recipes are just so fantastic, though!

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you! I've sent you the recipe- let me know what you think.

Cheers,