The perfect chocolate dessert for 2024 prepared by Trish using her NEFF appliances…
“This year, after the festivities I’m taking a decidedly middle ground between full-on winter comfort and a virtuous culinary lightening-up. I’m steering away from meat and poultry completely and the textures I want are mostly soft and creamy. Cooking times and effort need to be reasonable, if not entirely minimal, after all the Christmas toil, and most of all, I require my flavours to be brighter and bolder than ever. There’s not a cold salad or heavy stew in sight, and never has the steam function of my NEFF oven been so welcome when tackling the limited array of winter vegetables on offer. My dark, gooey, chocolatey dessert takes no time at all to prep while helping me feel there might still be a little party glitter in the air.”@trishdeseineencore @neffhomeie
DATE AND COFFEE SEMIFREDDO WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE
This sticky, sweet no-churn frozen dessert will banish the winter blues. Make sure the chocolate for the sauce is as bitter as possible!
For 6
15 minutes preparation
Freezing time overnight
Ingredients
500ml double cream
6 Medjool dates, stoned
2 tbsp Camp Coffee essence (widely available in supermarkets)
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g can sweetened condensed milk
150g bitter chocolate (at least 70 per cocoa solids)
Method
Separate 100ml of the cream for the chocolate sauce and reserve.
Whip the remaining cream into stiff peaks.
Blitz the dates, coffee and vanilla extract with a little condensed milk, then add to the rest of the condensed milk.
Fold in the cream and pour the mixture into a loaf tin lined with cling film, or a silicone ice cream mould. Freeze overnight. The ice cream will be frozen, but not hard.
Heat the remaining 100ml cream with the chocolate very gently over a bain marie on the hob or on minimum power in a microwave and serve hot over slices of the semifreddo.
Trish’s Neff Induction Hob www.neff-home.com/ie
Trish’s table settings may feature Stable of Ireland napkins and tablecloth, serving ware from Nicholas Mosse and Newbridge Silverware Bead Cutlery. The shoot also features a painterly herringbone throw and a Donegal tweed cushion from Magee 1866 and Foxford Home.
Photography by @franckschmitt_photographe.