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Pidapipo's salted caramel gelato 'Golden Gaytime' recipe plus passionfruit pavlova with fresh mint gelato

Lisa Valmorbida

Pidapipo's salted caramel, milk chocolate and malt crumble popsicle.
Pidapipo's salted caramel, milk chocolate and malt crumble popsicle.Lauren Bamford

Lisa Valmorbida learnt the art of gelato-making in Italy, opening a pop-up gelateria, Pidapipo, in Melbourne's Italian heartland, Carlton, in 2014. Her pop-up become a permanent store, spawned a second outlet in 2016, and now she's written a book about gelato.

Salted caramel, milk choc and malt crumble popsicle (Ghiacciolo al caramello salato, cioccolato al latte e briciolata di mandorle)

This is a take on the classic Australian ice-cream, the Golden Gaytime. It starts with salted caramel gelato dipped in milk chocolate that's then rolled in a malt crumble. These are really sweet but they're always a hit when you serve them at parties.

Pidapipo - Gelato Eight Days a Week.
Pidapipo - Gelato Eight Days a Week.Supplied
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INGREDIENTS

480g (enough to fill 5 moulds) salted caramel gelato (recipe below)

100g milk chocolate, broken into small chunks

40g cocoa butter

For the malt crumble

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140g unsalted butter, melted

85g malt powder

175g plain flour

100g castor sugar

METHOD

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1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

2. To make the malt crumble, put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hands to form a crumble-like mixture. Arrange on one of the prepared baking trays in an even layer and cook for 20 minutes until lightly golden, breaking the crumble up with a fork and mixing it around halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then break into breadcrumb-sized pieces with your hands. Set aside.

3. Fill five 60-millilitre popsicle moulds with the salted caramel gelato and push a popsicle stick halfway down in the centre of each. Transfer to the freezer and leave to harden for four hours.

4. Once the gelato has hardened, briefly place one of the moulds popsicle stick-side up (being sure that no water touches the gelato) in a jug of warm water. Remove the mould from the water, turn it upside down and pull gently on the popsicle stick until the popsicle comes out, then transfer to the tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Repeat with the remaining moulds, then return the popsicles to the freezer and leave for a further two hours to harden.

5. Melt the milk chocolate and cocoa butter together in a double boiler or a bowl in the microwave, then pour into a tall container and leave to cool slightly. Dip a popsicle into the chocolate, then transfer it to the tray with the malted crumbs and turn to coat each side (you need to do this quickly before the chocolate solidifies). Repeat with the remaining popsicles. Eat straight away or place the popsicles back on the lined tray and return to the freezer until needed.

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Makes 5 popsicles

Salted caramel gelato (Gelato al caramello salato)

INGREDIENTS

135g castor sugar

150g filtered water

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645g milk

165ml pouring cream

35g dextrose

20g skim milk powder

5g carob bean powder

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7g sea salt

1. Put the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and stir in the water to make a slurry. Put the pan on the stovetop over a medium-high heat and leave for three minutes to caramelise (don't stir it during this time, just leave it to do its thing). When the caramel is a nice dark brown, remove the pan from the stove and whisk in the milk then the cream.

2. Put all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine.

3. Return the pan to the heat and gradually whisk in the combined ingredients until fully incorporated. Continue to heat, whisking as you go, until it hits 85C. Remove from the heat, pour into a suitable lidded container and leave to cool in the freezer for one hour, or until the mixture drops to 4C.

4. Turn on your gelato maker so it begins the freezing process.

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5. Pour the mixture into your gelato maker. Once the mixture reaches minus 4C or is the consistency of soft-serve ice-cream (this should take about 30-45 minutes) detach the canister or scoop the gelato into a pre-cooled lidded container. Transfer to the freezer and leave for at least one hour to harden before serving.

Makes 1kg (10 scoops)

Pidapipo's passionfruit pavlovas.
Pidapipo's passionfruit pavlovas.Lauren Bamford

Passionfruit pavlova with fresh mint gelato and coconut (Pavlova al frutto della passione con gelato al cocco e menta fresca)

My Mum has always made great pavlova. The meringue recipe here is hers – it's brittle on the outside and nice and chewy inside. It's the cornflour that brings the chewiness. I think the mint gelato goes really well with the passionfruit flavours.

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INGREDIENTS

300 ml pouring cream

2 tbsp desiccated coconut

600g fresh mint gelato (see recipe below)

For the meringue

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4 egg whites

pinch of salt

340g castor sugar

4 tsp cornflour

2 tsp white vinegar

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½ tsp vanilla paste

For the passionfruit curd

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

220g castor sugar

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125ml ( ½ cup) passionfruit pulp

150g unsalted butter, cubed

For the passionfruit jelly

4 gelatine leaves or 6g gelatine powder

150ml filtered water

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55g castor sugar

250ml (1 cup) passionfruit pulp, strained

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 135C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. For the meringue, add the egg whites and salt to the clean bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment added. On medium speed, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Continuing to whisk, add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, then add the cornflour, white vinegar and vanilla paste and whisk for 15 minutes to form soft peaks.

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3. Spoon six equal-sized dollops of meringue onto the prepared baking tray, leaving two centimetres between them to allow them to expand and making an indentation in the middle of each with a teaspoon. Bake for one hour, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool completely in the oven before removing. Set aside.

4. To make the passionfruit curd, add the eggs, egg yolks, castor sugar and passionfruit pulp to a heat-proof bowl and whisk to combine. Set the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and gradually add the butter, whisking continuously, until all the butter has melted and been incorporated and the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the bowl from the heat and pour the curd into a container, then cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge to cool.

5. For the passionfruit jelly, place the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of ice-cold water and leave them to soften. Place the water and sugar in a small heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl with the passionfruit pulp. Squeeze the softened gelatine leaves of excess water, add them to the passionfruit mixture and whisk to combine. (If the gelatine hasn't dissolved fully, return the mixture to the pan and heat gently, whisking until it has.) Pour the mixture into a small tray, transfer to the fridge and leave for about two hours, or until set.

6. Whip the cream in a bowl using a hand whisk or electric whisk until soft peaks form. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

7. To assemble the dessert, divide the meringues among six plates. Dollop over the whipped cream, spoon over the passionfruit curd and top with small teaspoons of the jelly, then sprinkle over the desiccated coconut before finishing with a scoop of fresh mint gelato.

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Serves 6

Fresh mint gelato (gelato alla menta fresca)

This has been one of my favourite gelato flavours since I first tasted it when working at Donovans restaurant in Melbourne. With this recipe, you blend the mint with the base gelato mixture so you get a beautiful pale green colour as well as the refreshing mint flavour. Pay attention when straining the mixture because any pieces of mint leaves that are left can give the gelato a gritty texture. This is great with chocolate – sauce, pudding or cake.

INGREDIENTS

115g castor sugar

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30g dextrose

15g skim milk powder

5g carob bean powder

550g milk

195ml pouring cream

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35g fresh mint leaves

90g condensed milk

METHOD

1. Put the sugar, dextrose and skim milk powder in a bowl and mix to combine.

2. Put the carob bean powder in a separate bowl. Add two tablespoons of the sugar mixture and mix together well.

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3. Pour the milk and cream into a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk in the carob bean powder mixture and continue to heat, whisking in the sugar mixture as you go, until it hits 85C. Remove from the heat, pour into a suitable lidded container and leave to cool in the freezer for one hour, or until the mixture drops to 4C.

4. Turn on your gelato maker so it begins the freezing process.

5. Add the mint and condensed milk to the mixture and blend with a hand-held blender until smooth.

6. Strain the mixture and transfer it to your gelato maker. Once it reaches minus 4C or is the consistency of soft-serve ice-cream (this should take about 30–45 minutes) detach the canister or scoop the gelato into a pre-cooled lidded container. Transfer to the freezer and leave for at least one hour to harden before serving.

Makes 1 kg (10 scoops)

This is an edited extract from Pidapipo Gelato Eight Days a Week by Lisa Valmorbida published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $40, available in stores nationally.

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