Frozen Mosaic (Mango, Blackberry and Vanilla)

I'm not sure I need to say much about this frozen little work of art. It's so easy and pretty. You can make it days ahead of time (in about 30 minutes) and your guests will ooh and ahh (if they don't, consider getting yourself some new guests...I mean, really, it's the polite thing to do). 

These flavors are a great combination — very colorful and light & refreshing on a hot day. Of course you can make this with any flavors you want (as long as you make a sauce thin enough to fill in the cracks). I was thinking maybe a chocolate and vanilla version with raspberry sauce (not as colorful, but nice for chocolate lovers). And if you really want to be a superstar, make your own ice cream/sorbet (of course if you go that route, you can kiss quick and easy goodbye).

FROZEN MANGO, BLACKBERRY AND VANILLA MOSAIC

Makes 10 to 12 servings

2 pints mango sorbet (4 cups)

1 pint vanilla ice cream (2 cups)

6 oz. fresh blackberries (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons crème de cassis (black currant liqueur)

1.     Put sorbet and ice cream in refrigerator until evenly softened, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2.     Meanwhile, purée blackberries, sugar, and cassis in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Freeze to thicken slightly until ice cream is ready, 20 to 40 minutes, then stir until smooth.

3.      Lightly oil a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan (or other 7- to 8-cup capacity mold) with no-taste oil (like canola oil). Cut a piece of parchment to fit bottom and long sides of pan, leaving at least 3 inches of overhang on each side.

4.     Fill pan decoratively with spoonfuls of sorbet and ice cream, pressing down and filling empty spaces with blackberry purée as you go. Smooth top, pressing down with back of spoon to eliminate air spaces, then fold parchment flaps over top and freeze until solid, at least 3 hours.

5.     To unmold, run a thin knife along short sides of pan to loosen mosaic, then open parchment and invert onto a flat serving dish, discarding parchment.

6.     Cut mosaic into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Can be made 5 days ahead and frozen, covered with plastic wrap.

from Gourmet, July 2007

blackberries with sugar and crème de cassis

blackberry sauce

straining the blackberry sauce

layering the ice cream and sorbet

Remember to push down as you layer to avoid holes
(mine had a few, but nothing too terrible).

blackberry sauce drizzled on

ready to wrap up

In order to unmold it, I did run a little warm water over the
sides of the pan. As you can see, it's a little melty because of that.
I just stuck it back in the freezer for 20 minutes--no problem.

unmolded, the short end

cross section

As you can see, every slice is different. Fun.

I wrapped the leftover in plastic wrap (in individual slices) and put them
back in the freezer. It was easy for my family to quickly grab a piece.
If you don't want those lines on yours, don't use a serrated knife like I did.

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