Spain Gourmetour

Roast Almoharín figs with chestnut ice cream and a vanilla cream
(Higos de Almoharín asados con helado de castañas y cremoso de vainilla)

Photographer / Author: Tomás Zarza / ICEX

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
8 purple Almoharín figs
200 gr cane syrup

For the vanilla cream:
1 l cream, 35% fat content
1 1/8 cups fresh egg yolk
180 gr sugar
8 gr / 1/3 oz sheet gelatin
4 vanilla pods
For the chestnut ice cream:
1.5 l milk
100 gr powdered milk
130 ml cream, 35% fat content
225 gr sugar
100 gr inverted sugar
175 ml oz egg yolk
250 gr chestnut paste

Preparation time
1 h.

Cooking time
5 min.

Difficulty level
medium

Figs and chestnuts make perfect partners (try filling a dried fig with a roasted chestnut). This gave me the idea of serving chestnuts both hot and cold and marrying them with a vanilla cream.

Vanilla cream
Infuse the vanilla in the warm cream. Mix the sugar with the egg yolks and add the cream. Soften the gelatin in water then drain and add. Heat to 86ºC / 186ºF. Strain and pasteurize at 4ºC / 39ºF.

Ice cream
Mix and pasteurize all the ingredients for 2 minutes. Cool to 4ºC / 35ºF and leave to stand for 24 hours. Beat and freeze at –25ºC / –13ºF.

To serve
Cut the figs in half, sprinkle with brown sugar and caramelize with a blowtorch. Place in the oven for 2 minutes at 180ºC / 350ºF. Serve two spoonfuls of vanilla cream, top with the roast figs and add a quenelle of chestnut ice cream.

Recommended wine
Molino Real (Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez), a white Málaga wine with just the right elegance and balance to go perfectly with the figs and ice cream.