Affogato Napoleonato
The summer is slowly coming undone at the seams, still strong and vigorous in the middle of the day, yet there's a hint of autumn weaving through its frilly ends, later, when the sun goes down. In the morning, I get to see the sun rise again. I know it's rising for it's the first rays of the day, painting shimmering copper spots on the ancient maple tree in front of my window. When I get up I see the sun hovering over the low hill on the other side of the small river, pearly mist hanging above the water, tinting the morning world gold.
Our food still mostly consists of summery languidness. Throw together salads, bbq, the tasty little French fish tins. Rosé wine. Zucchini flower fritters. Joie de Vivre. I load everything on our tiny bistrot table right outside the kitchen, under the quince trees, kitten playing at my feet. Once the sun has set we watch the stars coming on, Sirius, Ursa Major, and later, the Milky Way. Fireflies glow in the grass and the hedges. It's a little magical and very beautiful.
At the beginning of summer, with impeccable timing, I found a homestead in the area that makes ice cream off their cow's milk, it's an absolute corker. They're making a full range of flavours and I can't for the life of me decide which one I like best. Well perhaps I can. They probably make the best glace Plombières ever. That was Napi's favourite too, Glace Plombières, the third Napoleon, the one who conspired with the Italians and had a GF who turned up half naked at a ball. Plombières is an actual place, not far from here, and I've written up a piece about it a while ago. I've lost my heart to Plombières, undoubtedly. So, this summer, dessert was mostly affogato, which is Italian, and Napi's GF incidentally, in addition to being a frivolous tart, was Italian too, boozed ice cream with fruits confits and steaming hot espresso, a match made in heaven.
And like all matches made in heaven, it's blissfully easy to make. So as not to take your time off star gazing.
What you'll need
Glace Plombières (any other of your favourite flavours I suppose will work too but do try Glace Plombières if ever you can get a hold of it)
A small spoon of dark cocoa powder
Pink pralines
Rainbow sprinkles
A cup of strong espresso (use a decaf version at night in case you react strongly to coffee after five o'clock)
How you make it
Put one scoop (or in my case two) of ice cream in a tea cup, pour the espresso over it and then add the cocoa powder, pralines and sprinkles. Et voilà.
How you eat it
Alas, what shall I say, but what's too obvious: enjoy and savour every single drop, isn't summer a wonderful thing!
