Semifreddo

The summer found me with an overabundance of blackberries, picked at their ripest and juiciest and too plentiful to be used up on cereal alone. I made a cobbler that turned out right enough but in the end I wanted to try something a little more exotic. In a book on berry desserts checked out from the library I came across a recipe for blackberry semifreddo, an Italian dessert similar to ice cream. It’s basically created by making a simple syrup that is beaten into egg whites, with whipped cream and crushed blackberries folded in. The simplicity of the recipe appealed to me, along with the fact that I didn’t need an ice cream machine to make it. Semifreddo turned out to be the perfect vehicle for my blackberries: it had a very full, round flavor and the berry notes came through loud and clear. It was more flavorsome than any kind of ice cream I’ve had, perhaps because the cream doesn’t drown out the main attraction. Light, delicious, and easy, semifreddo is the perfect thing to bring to a dinner party.