Coffee Semifreddo
Hazelnuts in caramel
When I was a teenager only adults drank coffee. Like many people, my parents only drank it in the morning. Because it smelled and tasted bitter, I never even tasted it. The first time I remember drinking coffee and liking it I was 22 and it was iced with lots of cream and sugar. Today the coffeehouse down the block from me is always packed with people and I am surprised at how young many of them are—but according to some recent studies kids as young as 14 and almost 50% of the population between the ages of 18-24 now drink coffee.
I always thought coffee beans originally came from South America (maybe because of television ads portraying Juan Valdez) but as I recently discovered, coffee beans weren’t even grown in the Americas until the early 18th century.
Ingredient shot
The origins of drinking coffee, at least the kind we drink today (roasted and then brewed), can be traced back to the 1400’s when the Sufi’s from Yemen drank it to help them stay awake during their religious ceremonies. At that time coffee was grown in Ethiopia and Somalia. From there it was traded throughout the Middle East, eventually catching on in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, and finally western European countries by the 17th century. The Dutch were big exporters of coffee from Indonesia and then the British East India Company got involved, exporting it to England and eventually the Americas. The BEIC were the guys that got so upset when their tea got thrown into the Boston harbor, but they were also selling coffee—who knew!
As coffee continues to grow in popularity in the United States, there are problems sustaining its supply. Most coffee is grown in full sun to yield a larger crop, but this uses more water and fertilizer, and clearing the land takes away habitat from birds, animals, and insects. There is a push to go back to growing the plants in shade—the flavor is reported to be better, but the yield is smaller, making the change to shaded coffee production less appealing to the growers. In fact, many of the countries that rely heavily on coffee exports are the poorest and climate change is already diminishing their crops. It seems inevitable that we will see the cost of coffee increase. Hopefully more of our money will go to the farmers and workers who grow and pick it. In the meantime, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to support fair trade and organic coffee farmers whenever possible.
The following recipe is from the cookbook Mediterranean by Claudia Roden. It is a creamy coffee and hazelnut semifreddo. I used a small loaf pan (8 x 3 ½), but you could use a glass bowl or another mold of a similar size. This dessert is a cinch to make, but plan ahead because it needs to set in the freezer overnight.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
¼ cup hazelnuts
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ cups whipping cream
1 ¾ cups sweetened evaporated milk
1 ½ tablespoons instant espresso coffee
To make the Caramel:
Toast the hazelnuts in a 350° oven for 4-5 minutes. Watch carefully—they will burn easily. Pour the warm nuts into a clean dish cloth and rub together to remove any loose skin. Set aside to cool.
Place some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can lightly oil the pan.
Put the sugar into a heavy gauge sauté pan over medium high heat. Do not stir. When the sugar starts to melt and color, lower the heat and keep the pan low and over the heat, swirling it until all the sugar liquifies. If it starts to turn dark, quickly lower the heat again.
Add the nuts carefully, rolling them into the caramel. Be careful not to touch the caramel or nuts with bare fingers, they’re both very hot.
Quickly pour the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet and let cool till hard.
Once it’s completely cool, break up the caramel into a food processor and pulse into smaller pieces.
NOTE: The caramel nut mixture with be both in and on top of the loaf so you don’t want huge pieces, but they shouldn’t be uniform either.
To make the Semifreddo:
Line the loaf pan with plastic wrap, making sure it is long enough to reach all the corners of the pan as well as hang over the sides. The extra plastic will help you to lift the frozen semifreddo out more easily.
Now whip the cream, condensed milk, and instant coffee in a medium bowl or standing mixer for five minutes until soft peaks form.
Fold in all but 2-3 tablespoons of the chopped caramel. Spoon the creamy mixture into the pan, cover with another layer of plastic wrap and place in the freezer overnight.
When you are ready to serve the dessert, hold both sides of the plastic and gently lift it out of the pan.
Place it upside down onto a serving platter and sprinkle the reserved brittle onto the top. Serve immediately.
Variations:
Chocolate is a natural here but use it sparingly because it will overpower the coffee flavor. I would use it 1:4. Also, you can change the nuts: almond, peanut, or pistachio all work well.
