Healthy Tasty Chowcleaner recipes, reviews, toddler mom stuff and food chatter

I’m seriously happy.  These are awesome.  They’re a winner in my book whether or not this recipe wins a prize - If I were a judge I’d give this my vote!  Mmmm, a little alcohol, espresso, gelato and chocolate never disappoints me.  Ever!  PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur is doing a contest right now - develop a recipe with at least 3 tablespoons of PAMA, submit it to their facebook page, and the grand prize winner gets a trip to Aspen for the Annual Food & Wine Festival.  Are you kidding me?  That would be amazing!  My husband and I wanted to go this last year but never made the arrangements - he, because he was worried about his studies that are now over, and myself, because I was worried that I would be pregnant.  What does that matter anyway?  Unless I’m 9 months ready to pop.  Actually, that would be very funny if I won this contest and happened to be pregnant and due in June.  Right now, it’s all up in the air.  To my knowledge, I may still have caffeine and alcohol, which is lucky for me for this particular delicious dessert!  Maybe even still in June…you just never know:)

I want to tell you an embarrasingly funny oops story which led to a great ending.  Or just plain stupid story.  What was I thinking?  That’s right, I wasn’t thinking.  I have one of those old school espresso makers that you put on the stovetop.  I also have the Bialetti cappuccino maker as well.  I am so used to making the cappuccino that when I was in the process of making espresso I took out the milk and filled up the container with milk instead of water.  It brewed up nicely actually and I should’ve just drank it.  I added the PAMA liquer while it was still hot and it curdled into nasty bits and just looking at the mess made me want to spew.  Reminds me of the brains shot someone bought me the day I turned 21.  Anyway, it was a sad waste of some good PAMA and espresso beans.  Instead of starting from scratch, my mom suggested that I use the illy espresso can I had in my fridge.  Brilliant!  Thanks mom.  Originally I was planning on a more traditional affogato but due to my fortunate dumb mistake, I used chilled espresso and I liked it better!  The gelato didn’t melt underneath but instead when mixed, made more of a milkshake consistency.  I liked this far better than any milkshake I’ve had, however.  I’ve already had a few of these and as I’m writing this…I’m drooling.  I’m Pavlov’s dog.  Will do anything for this dessert.

Some of the judges in this PAMA contest are Spike Mendelson, Lee Ann Wong and Jeff McInnis from Top Chef!  I’ve watched that show since season one with Katie Lee Joel - I thought she was fantastic but Padma is pretty amazing herself- it’s a great show so I’d watch it either way.  Wouldn’t that be cool to have some Top Chef contestants try your food?  Actually, I’d rather eat their food but nobody lives in Omaha.  Come on everyone, come to Omaha!  We have a great local economy and it’s a nice place to start a family.  I’ll eat your food.  Back to the subject- I went Top Chef and did all my shopping at Whole Foods for this.  I even timed myself  and dashed around sweating all over the place in a panic.  No, I didn’t do that.  But I did get everything at Whole Foods.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup espresso gelato - NOT mocha, cappuccino or coffee gelato - I used Ciao Bella brand
• 1 cup vanilla or mascarpone gelato - I got this from the gelato counter
• 6 ladyfingers - WF doesn’t carry the good Italian imported big and fluffy ones, but it’s okay b/c these little ones are perfect for the little cups - I wouldn’t want these for actual tiramisu though.
• 6oz chilled espresso - I used a can of Illy espresso and had a swig first
• 1 pomegranate - seeds  click here for the best video I think for opening and cleaning pomegranates
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 4 tsp powdered sugar
• 2 tsp mascarpone
• 4 6oz cups
• Chocolate bar -a minuscule amount - I used 58%

Method:

• Cut and clean the pomegranate according the the video link above
• Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and mascarpone, set aside
• Mix chilled espresso with PAMA liqueur in a pourable container
• Scoop about 1/4 cup vanilla or mascarpone gelato on bottom of each cup
• Scoop about 1/4 cup espresso gelato on top
• Crush and crumble one ladfinger per cup on top into chunky bits
• Pour about 1/4 cup liquid on top - some liquid may be leftover depending on your cups
• Top with about 1/4 cup whipped cream
• Grind chocolate on top
• Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top - in the picture I only had a few but before eating, I put in about a quarter of the pom.  I like different textures in my ice cream, but if you don’t - you can omit this.  I think it compliments the flavor of the PAMA as well.
• Break 2 remaining ladyfingers in half and place in each cup.
• Serve- there is no major hurry to eat these since they’re not made with hot espresso- the gelato melts a little which only makes it melt in your mouth even more.  It turns into somewhat of the consistency of a milkshake - but I’d rather have this than a milkshake any day!

Public voting starts November 16th- so put it on your calendars!  Okay, if you remember, and you like this, go to PAMA’s Facebook page and vote please!  Here is the link if it works…I’ll try to update it if anything changes.  Thank you!  http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/6690/voteable_entries

By the way…if you’ve never had PAMA, here’s an idea on something else to make with it.  The first time I ever had PAMA was at a bachelorette party.  This was a much nicer version of a bachelorette party and we walked in the house and were instantly served a beautiful silver tray full of champagne glasses filled with sparkling wine, PAMA and a splash of cranberry juice.  All of us girls were quite happy with the drink but unfortunately, they ran out quickly and we switched to wine.  Okay, I was very happy with the wine too!   The sparkling wine/PAMA drink was a great way to welcome a bunch of young ladies.  Guys, you can drink it too, just remember to stick out your pinky finger.   I won’t tell anyone you like it.