Gelo di Melone

Preparation:

1. Halve watermelon and cut into slices / pieces, cut out flesh and cut into large cubes. Remove the cores from the melon pieces.
2. Give melon cubes in a large bowl and puree them on high level for 2-3 minutes with a hand blender to a fine mash (yields approximately 1.5 liters of fluid).
3. Wash and coarsely chop mint leaves, mix with the melon puree and let it rest for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator. Give puree in a colander, pass with a spatula and place in a large saucepan.
4. Sieve cornstarch in a bowl and stir it with a few tablespoons of mashed melon until it becomes smooth. Agar-agar can be used instead of cornstarch. Mix the powder with a little liquid watermelon juice in a small bowl until it’s smooth and fold in the cold melon puree before it goes on to step 5. * Gelo di Melone becomes more solid when agar-agar is used. It can be turned later when the hot mass is filled small bowls, rinsed with cold water. Leave the dessert bowls in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
5. Bring the melon puree and added freshly squeezed lemon juice and sugar to boil in a saucepan and stir everything. Reduce heat from to medium. Pour in the stirred cornstarch and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring. The melon puree begins to be solid and will be back stronger in color. Press the hot melon puree through a sieve to avoid lumps. Add finely grated alternative to dark chocolate to the hot mousse and finally season with a pinch of cinnamon.
   * using agar-agar Gelo di Melone turns solid only during cooling after about 2-3 hours
6. Pour hot Gelo di Melone into dessert glasses and leave to cool in the refrigerator. Serve with chopped pistachios and alternative to grated chocolate.

Our tip: For a particularly fine extra minty note simply rasp mint chocolate and fold into the Gelo di Melone.

Recipe by Sophie Mathisz