Big News + Roasted Cherry Semifreddo

When life gives you lemons, move shop and make cherry semifreddo...? IDK, we'll workshop that one.

Jun 21, 2023

First off - some news!

I’ll be finishing up my residency at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum by the end of June.

For those who don’t know - I’ve spent the last year and a half as a Chef in Residence at the museum - I keep their kitchen running smoothly for folks who rent it out for events, teach classes, and help brainstorm museum programming. In exchange, I’ve been able to use their commissary to run my baking business. It’s been a fun ride with some really lovely people, and I’m so grateful to them for having me along.

I’m in the planning stages of transitioning into a new space, which will necessitate operating the biz a bit differently. Moving into a new kitchen is like breaking in a new pair of work shoes - a little uncomfortable, occasionally painful, but ultimately for the best. Any of you who are also cottage bakers or itinerant chefs will know this drill intimately. I’m not personally interested in having a brick and mortar bakery - the overhead seems like a drag and I like the freedom of being able to incorporate different types of work into my routine. The past six months, I’ve assisted on the food styling for an upcoming cookbook, contributed a recipe and article to the Washington Post, submitted an essay to a forthcoming compilation, taught online and in-person baking classes, developed recipes and branded content for my pals at California Grown, all while running “Bayou Saint Cake”, the internet bakery. Moving forward, I still intend to bake cakes for y’all, but my availability may be a bit more limited as I continue to weave in different jobs and adjust to my next spot. I’ve also paused orders for July fully so I can continue to plan the transition. (Locals, if you know a few strong people with a truck who can move a lowboy cooler for cash, comment below!).

After I posted this image I realized the bird icon and word choice made it seem like I was about to make an earthly transition rather than a business one.

Speaking of California Grown - I’ve got another sponsored recipe for y’all below! I really love this one and have quite genuinely eaten it for breakfast multiple times this week.

An admission: I’ve also been working on another (not-sponsored) recipe for fig leaf oatmeal cream pies, but it isn’t ready yet. Such is life! If you haven’t already subscribed you can do so below so you’ll be the first to know when I’ve finished that particular recipe.

Roasted Cherry Semifreddo

Brought to you by our pals at California Grown!

The official start of summer is only just here, but the heat has officially hit New Orleans. Our “feels-like” temperatures are nearing 112 degrees and the humidity is laying over the city like a thick, wet blanket. This is my twentieth New Orleans summer and I think I may have a bit of amnesia when it comes to the experience of it - it’s always stickier than I remember. Stepping outside, the turbid heat immediately humbles you. The warmth builds in a cresting wave until late afternoon, when we’ll get a near-daily torrential downpour that does little to cut the thick, hot damp. The only way to get through is to slow down. Come home from work, sluice off, and ignore your chores. Planning a dinner party? Don’t you dare turn on your oven: we’re in cold food territory now.

It always strikes me as ironic that the worst time to embark on a baking project is also the greatest time of year for fruit - stone fruit season. We’re in the flush of cherry season, the brief and sweet period where you’ll find me zoning out over the sink, eating cherries by the handful. Growing up, we’d get whole flats of them from my cousins in California, who’ve owned a cherry farm in Stockton for generations. My young cousin Matto (I saw young, but he’s a fully married father of two now!) is now the steward of the Katicich Ranch. We’re so proud to see him continue the farming tradition in the family - one of over 600 family farms in California growing the best cherries.

I developed this Roasted Cherry Semifreddo just for this moment - an easy, elegant dessert, no oven time required. Semifreddos are typically based on a mixture of whipped eggs, but here I’ve simplified the process by riffing off the “no-churn” ice cream tradition. It should also be noted that I’ve done this because I am lazy and I could not abide separating eggs while my air conditioning struggles to maintain an interior temperature below 76 degrees. So is this a proper semifreddo? No. I’ll put the word “semifreddo” in quotes below to satisfy any scrupulous Italians.

Cherries are roasted on the stovetop until just soft, 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. You can make this dessert several days ahead- once fully frozen, it’s ready to plate in minutes. I serve it with additional roasted cherries in their juice, and drizzled with olive oil for a lovely color contrast.

A nod to Nicola Lamb’s iconic recipe newsletter Kitchen Projects - in my research I saw lots of “no-churn” ice cream and frozen dessert recipes that recommend using condensed milk, but Lamb is the first I found to explain why. Frozen desserts have the best texture when you remove as much water as possible from the recipe - otherwise you get little pockets of ice crystals that disrupt the creaminess. The dense, milky nature of condensed milk is excellent in frozen desserts for this reason, especially combined with whipping cream, and shouldn’t be substituted.

Roasted Cherry “Semifreddo”

Recipe note: 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 rather than fussing with a cherry pitter or knife.

I highly recommend freezing the semifreddo overnight before unmolding (8+ hours at least). Most home freezers are crowded and unreliable, and things need a little longer to get properly chilled.

Makes about 8-9 servings

For the poaching syrup:

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons / 75 grams sugar

¾ cup water

2 tablespoons / 30 grams lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small non reactive pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is totally dissolved.

For the “semifreddo”:

1 pound / approx 3 cups / 458 grams cherries, pitted

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 14oz/ 398 g can sweetened condensed milk

½ cup / 120 grams sour cream

¼ cup / 60 grams lemon juice

Pinch salt

1 ½ cups / 339 grams heavy cream

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 by adding another dash of lemon juice if you like (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 - save the rest for later). 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 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). Also for what it’s worth, if you have a silicon muffin pan, don’t bother using it for muffins - silicon is terrible for baking (not for health reasons, it just doesn’t provide proper heat conduction and makes for pallid bakes). It’s fabulous for molded desserts like this semifreddo though! I got about nine 4 oz servings when I molded mine this way.

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.