“My cherry moment in life came when I rode my scooter to the mountains of Skiathos, Greece, and picked wild cherries,” says chef Matt Germanchis. “That day, I collected five different varieties and since then my appreciation has been almost spiritual. Paired with a sharp, light yoghurt mousse and olive-oil ice-cream, this dish is sweet Greek on a plate.” Start this recipe a day ahead to make the ice-cream.
Ingredients
Olive-oil ice-cream
Yoghurt mousse
Method
1.For ice-cream, heat milk in a saucepan over medium-high heat until temperature reaches 50°C (3-4 minutes). Whisk in sugar, milk powder and glucose, and stir occasionally until temperature reaches 90°C (3-4 minutes). Whisk in oil, then remove from heat and pour into a bowl placed over ice to cool. Churn in an ice-cream machine and freeze until firm (6 hours or overnight).
2.Bring sugar, star anise, cinnamon and 100ml water to the boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat, add cherries and stir to combine. Cool and set aside until required.
3.For mousse, whisk cream and sugar in a bowl until soft peaks form, then fold in yoghurt and refrigerate in a charged cream gun. (Alternatively, if you don’t have a charger, whisk sugar and cream to firm peaks, fold through yoghurt and chill for 2 hours.)
4.Pipe or spoon yoghurt mousse into bowls or coupes, top with a scoop of ice-cream and cherries, and serve.
You may need to adjust the quantity of sugar, depending on the tartness of the yoghurt.
Wine suggestion by Gemma Gange: A chilled muscat, such as Campbells Rutherglen Muscat, Vic.
Notes