The joy of summer: Semifreddo

Semifreddo in Italian is a demi-frozen light dessert, usually made with cream and crushed hazelnuts or amaretti biscuits. The most difficult part with this recipe is to find white geranium flowers...more common in Italy, but perhaps you can substitute them with other edible flowers. Ingredients: 2 geranium flowers plus some to garnish, 3 sheets of gelatine, 500 Grams of ricotta, 250 Grams of natural yogurt, 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Put the gelatine to soak in cold water for about 15 minutes, then squeeze and melt it with little hot water. Work ricotta and yogurt, add sugar and mix until well blended. Stir in gelatine and the petals well washed and drained. Mix and pour in a rectangular mold. Store in the fridge for at least three hours. Extract it carefully from the mold (with the help of a knife around the edges and a towel immersed in hot water briefly touching the mold it should be easy to unmold the semifreddo on the serving plate). Serve cut into large pieces and garnish with the rest of the petals. Accompany the parfait with iced fresh fruit juice like melon, raspberry, strawberry or an espresso, I would not recommend wine, due to the presence of yogurt.

A perfect finish for a light summer dinner in a garden.

Photography of table by Albarosa Simonetti