Semifreddo al Miele #VigiliaDiNatale #FishFridayFoodies

This month, the Fish Friday Foodies, with Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories, is serving up a virtual La Vigilia which is short for La Vigilia di Natale. You can read more about that in my round-up I'm sharing for the event at the end of the week. For my sixth course, as a palate cleanser between the savories and dessert, I am offering a semifreddo.

It literally means half-cold...and because I procrastinated till the last possible day to make and post this, my time was short and it was a little less than half-cold. But, according to my taste-testers, it was delicious nonetheless! I love the combination of sage and honey, so I had the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf pluck a few different sages from his garden for me.

Ingredients

• 3/4 t unflavored gelatin
• 6 T warm water
• 1-1/2 C organic heavy whipping cream
• 3 to 4 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
• 5 T sage honey
• 3 T organic granulated sugar
• 1/4 t salt (I used fleur de sel)
• 6 large egg yolks
• honeycomb for serving

Procedure

Sprinkle gelatin over 2 T water in ramekin and let stand to soften. In a large mixing bowl, beat whipping cream until it holds peaks. Then chill while you prepare the remaining steps.

Stir together honey, sugar, salt, sage leaves and remaining water in medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is completely melted. Then boil, without stirring, until mixture reaches 238°F on a thermometer, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Beat egg yolks in a medium bowl until they are thickened and pale, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully pour the hot honey mixture in a slow, steady stream into the yolks. Immediately add gelatin mixture to the hot honey and eggs, swirling until dissolved. Continue to beat until mixture is pale, thick, and completely cool, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Fold whipped cream into honey mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined.

Place mixture into a plastic-lined bowl and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving. Six would have been better. Maybe next time my batch will be fully frozen.