Bronwen Wyatt's Roasted Cherry “Semifreddo”
This Roasted Cherry Semifreddo is perfect for summer - an easy, elegant dessert with no oven time required. Like no-churn ice cream, cherries are roasted on the stovetop until just soft and bursting, then blended with sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and sour cream. Whipped cream is folded in to lighten the mixture, and then the whole thing is frozen in either a loaf pan or a silicon mold overnight.
Equipment
- Loaf Pan
Ingredients
For the poaching syrup:
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 75 grams
- ¾ cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice 30 grams
For the semifreddo:
- 1 pound pitted cherries 458 grams
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk 398 g
- ½ cup sour cream 120 g
- ¼ cup lemon juice 60 g
- Pinch salt
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream 339 g
Instructions
- Make the poaching syrup. Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small non-reactive pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is totally dissolved, about 5 minutes.
- Spray a loaf pan with pan spray and line it with plastic wrap.
- Toss the pitted cherries with sugar and let macerate for about five minutes.
- Heat the olive oil in a non-reactive skillet until just sizzling. Add the cherries and their juices and sear over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherries have taken on a roasty color and the sugar has just begun to caramelize. Add the poaching liquid to deglaze and simmer briefly until the cherries have softened (but pause before the cherries have blown out or turned to mush).
- Turn off the heat and remove the cherries with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Turn the heat back on and continue to simmer the poaching liquid, which will now be a deep crimson color, until it’s reduced enough to be syrupy in texture.
- Taste and adjust for acidity (I like my syrup to be quite bright). If you’ve doubled the roasted cherries for serving, you can store them in this poaching syrup until you’re ready to use them (up to five days).
- Once the roasted cherries have cooled, combine them with the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice and blend in a blender until very smooth (if you’ve doubled the roasted cherries, you’ll need about 9 ounces / 255 grams roasted cherries for this step). Decant into a bowl and whisk in the sour cream and salt.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold into the cherry mixture.
- Pour the “semifreddo” base into the lined loaf pan and freeze overnight. The next day, you can quickly dip the loaf pan in hot water and use the plastic wrap to pull your loaf of semifreddo out to slice (after this point, I’ll wrap any leftovers in foil and pop them back in the freezer). Alternatively, you can freeze your semifreddo in individual round silicon molds for a fancier presentation (these are available online, or you could use a silicon muffin pan).
- Serve the semifreddo with a drizzle of poaching liquid and roasted cherries, or a drizzle of olive oil. Toasted pistachios or almonds would be a lovely addition for a bit of crunch.
Notes
You can double the roasted cherries and poaching syrup if you’d like to have extra
to serve on the side of your semifreddo. I’m not fussy about pitting cherries super cleanly - I
honestly just use a gloved hand to pop out the pits.
to serve on the side of your semifreddo. I’m not fussy about pitting cherries super cleanly - I
honestly just use a gloved hand to pop out the pits.
Nutrition
Serving: 1portionCalories: 264kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 2gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 18mgPotassium: 199mgFiber: 1gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 783IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 0.3mg
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