The last summer recipe: gelo di cantalupo, Sicilian melon pudding

The first time I tried gelo di mellone I was in London, at the Oxford Food Symposium, at the gala dinner prepared by Fabrizia Tasca Lanza. The theme of the dinner was the Festive foods of Sicily. Closing that sumptuous banquet was a simple and equally surprising gelo di mellone.

Speaking of geli, surely the best known is gelo di mellone. But don’t be misled by its name: mellone, in this case, is watermelon (anguria in Italian), and gelo – meaning bitter cold – is a very traditional Sicilian pudding, where the juice of the watermelon (but also of blood oranges, lemons, or melon) is thickened with corn starch. 

Gelo puddings are very simple desserts, with a slightly retro flavour, easy to make, and modern in their approach. A very short list of ingredients means that they are fresh, gluten-free, and vegan desserts, thus extremely inclusive and suitable for these last summer evenings.

For today’s dessert, I chose a sweet, juicy melon and made gelo di cantalupo, which is the Sicilian dialect term for melon.

If you have a juicer, the preparation of a gelo is really straightforward: once I extracted the juice, I added a few tablespoons of elderflower syrup to enhance the aromatic notes of the melon.

When the gelo was ready, I poured it into the prettiest glasses I had. A few raspberries and a handful of grapes were enough to decorate each pudding with simplicity.

Light and fruity, they and every meal with a delicate, sweet note.

Gelo di melone, Sicilian melon pudding

Recipe in collaboration with Consorzio Melone Mantovano PGI

Here’s the second recipe developed for Consorzio Melone Mantovano PGI, a consortium that gathers farmers in the province of Mantua and in the neighbouring provinces of Cremona, Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara, a land devoted to melon farming for centuries.

There are indeed numerous historical accounts that confirm the centrality of melon farming in the area: from the presence in the 16th century of an oratory dedicated to Santa Maria del Melone, in the very central Via Cavour in Mantua, to the melons used together with other local products to decorate the vault of the Sala Consigliare of the Consortium of Participants of San Giovanni in Persiceto, painted by Angelo Lamma in 1833.

As for panzanella, I chose the smooth-skinned melon to make the Sicilian melon pudding, as it is intensely aromatic and perfectly married to the elderflower syrup’s flowery notes.

An end-of-summer menu

I was thinking about a simple menu made up of many small plates, designed to be shared with friends. There are the scents of late summer, when the harvest is most bountiful, when tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini happily coexist on the market stalls with the first apples, figs, and grapes. Serve these dishes along with our Sicilian melon pudding.

• Prosciutto and melon panzanella. The sweet and salty flavours of prosciutto and melon mingle with the vinegary, aromatic notes of panzanella, creating a unique summer dish.
• Pork tenderloin medallions with apples and onions. You can prepare the pork tenderloin medallions wrapped in lardo and cook them with apples and onions in no time. They will remain juicy, perfectly paired with caramelised apples and onions.
• Fried green tomatoes with grapes. There are only five ingredients – green tomatoes, grapes, basil, garlic and chilli – yet each one is essential. The pan-fried green tomatoes are meaty and fresh, the grapes add a delicate sweet note, the garlic and basil give an aromatic twist, and the chilli warms it up.
• Roasted peppers and a cheese toastie. In my frenzy to add roasted peppers to every possible food, I prepared a cheese toastie with sourdough bread, milky mozzarella and a few strips of roasted tomatoes. I can not think of a better way to say goodbye to summer.

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