Almond soup with Caramelita ice cream

When I saw this dish on  Ferran Adrià’s The Family Meal, I decided to try it on a heart beat. All in all, it was an emotional decision driven by gluttony, which could have be a serious contestant to the Darwin Awards of cooks. As I was plating, I realized that M., the poor suffering tester, is allergic to almonds. Needless should be to add (once again) that  am lactose-intolerant. Would a dessert made of ressuspended almonds and milk-derivatives be a good idea given these combined food challenges? Really, no need to answer. It is already bad enough the question needs to be made. Fortunately, G. showed up for a coffee the day after, and volunteered to help with the full platted dish. He said it was good, and asked for more…

About the dish itself – making the almond soup is actually a bit more laborious than I expected. Filtering the almond suspension can ended in a bit of a mess. In case you wonder why I am cooking for 6: Adrià justifiably says this is the minimum you should do, as it takes some critical mass to get the almond soup right. And, really, go for the Marcona almonds if you can source them. Anything less than that, and you won’t taste its flavor. In the absence of nougat ice cream, I tried Caramelita. It is a good combination, but apparently a bit too sweet (probably true – Moevenpick ice creams tend to be on the sugary side of life).

Food intolerances apart, this is actually a lovely dish for a dinner party. You can do the soup in advance and then plate when you need it.  It is an elegant combination of flavours and textures, which won’t disappoint the hard core foodies.

Almond soup with Caramelita ice cream

Ingredients (for 6)

• 240g of Marcona almonds
• 600mL water
• 80g sugar
• whole caramelised almonds to tastes
• Caramelita ice cream to taste (original recipe called for nougat ice cream, which I was not able to find).

Method

Put the almonds in a food processor and roughly chop

Tip them into a large bowl, then add the water

Leave to soak for 12 hours in the fridge

Use a hand held blender or food processor to blend the almonds and water until smooth and creamy

Carefully strain through a fine meshed metal sieve, using the back of a ladle  to help the soup pass through the sieve.

Add the sugar and whisk until it dissolves

To serve, put a triangle of three caramelised almonds in the bottom of a bowl. Place a scoop of ice-cream in the centre of the triangle

Poor the almond soup around the ice-cream.