The Letters to Juliet #MoviesandMunchies Round-Up + Wild Huckleberry Swirl Gelato

This month, I hosted the online Movies & Munchies group and asked the crew to watch Letters to Juliet. You can read my invitation here. Our group is small and mighty, but the posts always make me hungry.

The Recipe Round-Up

Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm shared her Mushroom Spaghetti.

Wendy shared: "There was quite a bit of food inspiration.  When the film first starts Sophie is hand fed fresh spaghetti by her fiance.  When they first arrive in Verona her fiance is going to a conference about truffles and is very upset when Claire can't understand why he would want to sit in a class about mushrooms.  He corrects her, dispelling the notion that truffles are just a mushroom. Mushrooms show up again at the end of the film convincing me that I wanted to make a pasta recipe that starred mushrooms."

Terri of Our Good Life posted Letters to Juliet Inspired Mushroom Risotto.

Terri sets the stage: "A group of Italian women, Juliet's secretaries, answers each letter.  Sophie loves the idea of answering the letters and then discovers a letter tucked deep into a crevice in the rock wall. The letter is 50 years old and was written by Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) who left her Italian lover without any type of communication.  Sophie decides to answer the letter.  Sophie's fiance supports the idea, then leaves her to go to a wine auction for several days.  To find out what happens in the rest of the movie, you will need to rent it out."

Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures offered up here Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Brain.

Amy explains the tie-in of her gruesomely awesome dish - more Verona-inspired than by the rom-com: "We learned that St. Peter of Verona (also known as St. Peter the Martyr or St. Peter the Inquisitor) was an inquisitor in the 12th century.  As an inquisitor, St. Peter’s job was to denounce a lot of what people were doing, so he wasn’t a terribly popular guy.  In the end, an assassin attempted to murder him.  Some stories say St. Peter was stabbed in the head with an ax, while others say a knife.  Accounts agree that St. Peter did not die at this point, but instead began writing the Nicene Creed (“I believe in God” or Credo in Deum) on the ground in his own blood before being stabbed in the heart, resulting in his death." What delicious fun nonetheless! I am definitely bookmarking this for Halloween.

I was also inspired by the mushroom dispute and shared Risotto all'Amarone. I also shared Re-Inventing the Noodle which was inspired by the same pasta-feeding scene in Victor's kitchen.

Next month, Amy hosts the group as we watch the Halloween classic  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

I was frankly surprised that no one latched onto the scene when Sophie and Charlie have a mini food fight with their gelato in a piazza. So, for this round-up, I decided to make a gelato with foraged huckleberries. 

Wild Huckleberry Swirl Gelato 

I have always called these huckleberries. But I read a recent article that said that we don't actually have huckleberries in my neck of the woods; so, these are actually a wild blueberry. Okay. Whatever. As I learned when I was working as a florist, common names can be confusing. 

After a quick foraging mission to the erroneously eponymous hill where these things grow, I was inspired to make a swirled gelato in honor of this month's Movies & Munchies event. 

 

Ingredients

Custard

• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or paste

Huckleberry Swirl

• 1/2 cup fresh huckleberries (use blueberries if you don't have huckleberries)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or paste
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Also needed: ice cream maker

Procedure

Custard

Beat the egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl until well-combined. Set them aside.  In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, whipping cream, sugar, and salt.  Heat and stir the milk and cream until gently simmering. Add a ladleful of the milk and cream mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. That way they won’t scramble when they are poured into the warm milk-cream mixture.

Return the entire mixture to the pan, then heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula to prevent it from burning and clumping.  Do not let it come to a boil, just heat it until is thick enough to coat a clean spoon without dripping off.  Whisk in the vanilla extract or paste. 

Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with a layer of clingwrap pressed directly into top of the custard to prevent a film for forming. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours but up to 24 hours

Huckleberry Swirl

In a small saucepan, combine the huckleberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and lemon juice.  Cook over medium-low heat for about 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly.  The mixture will be dry in the beginning, but as the sugar melts and the huckleberries release their juice, a sauce will form. Continue to stir and cook until it has reduced by about half and runs off of a spoon in thick drops.

Spoon the sauce through a sieve into a bowl to discard the skins. Chill the sauce until cold.

To Finish

Churn the custard according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.  Once it has reached soft serve stage, spoon about one-fifth of the mixture into the container it will be stored in.  Pour about one-quarter of the huckleberry sauce, then repeat those steps until all of the ice cream and sauce are combined.  Before putting it into the freezer, swirl with a knife.  Freeze until hard.

Let soften a bit before serving.