OK – so it’s Summer. But as it looks as if it is only going to last a couple of days, we thought we’d better rush in with a topical post before we go back to writing about soups and stews.
We like ice cream. Lots. We could pretty much live on it. And we have to admit, it is pretty much good enough just as it is. But sometimes you want to impress and offer stuff with it (assuming you are good enough to share your ice cream at all, that is), tart it up, make it into a sundae, pass it off as pudding. And sometimes you just need a bit of texture with it, maybe some fruit to make it seem like a healthier option.
So here’s our Persepolis Towers Top Ten Ice Cream Tarter-Uppers. In reverse order, as ever, to make it more exciting.
- No. 10: Who needs wafers? This crumbly chick pea shortbread (right) is the perfect foil for creamy ice cream (especially of the coffee flavoured variety). Sprinkle them on top or use them as a base.
- No. 9: Warmed sour cherry jam. Drizzle over vanilla ice cream just before you serve and watch them slowly melt into pink perfection.
- No. 8: blend just a little tahina with some pekmez (Turkish fruit paste), and add enough cold water to make it pourable. Trickle over ice cream thinly and watch it harden into a fruity sesame shell.
- No. 7: macerate raspberries or strawberries in some raspberry vinegar with crushed posh peppercorns. Drizzle and scoff.
- No. 6: mix grenadine (pomegranate cordial) with pomegranate molasses (paste) to get a lovely ice cream sauce (on their own they are respectively too sweet or too heavy).
- No. 5: Add some fresh crushed mint to a splash of sekanjabin (Persian mint cordial), and trickle over sorbet to add extra zing.
- No. 4: a Levantine special: soak some raisins in kahlua (or other tarty liqueur of choice), and then fry them in butter. Add a handful of pine nuts and a sprinkle of ground cardamom. Use warm. Renders even the most dire supermarket economy ice cream utterly exquisite in moments.
- No. 3: warm a spoonful or so of honey. Add a teaspoon of rose water, and a handful of dried rose petals. Use warm or cold: works well with sorbet as well as ice cream.
- No. 2: the Persian classic. Fry a handful of nibbed pistachios and almonds in butter. Then steep a little ground saffron in a splosh of boiling water and add it to the sizzling nuts. Spoon it (still warm) over your ice cream of choice just before you serve.
- And in top spot: hot fried date fudge. Unbelievably good. Just fry some pitted fresh Persian dates in a goodly dollop of butter, and then spoon the resulting ‘fudge’ between a couple of dollops of ice cream.
Of course it is a coincidence that we happen to sell most of these add ons…..