Semifreddo with nougat, idea for a party dessert

Are you looking for dessert ideas to serve at the end of the Christmas lunch? Do you want to present something fresh, creamy and delicious together with pandoro and panettone? Follow our recipe semifreddo with nougat! A dessert that is soft and crunchy at the same time, with a flavor of caramel, dried fruit and chocolate, with a base of white nougat, cream and dark chocolate, perhaps not too light, but certainly enjoyable and perfect for rounding off a busy lunch, accompanied from a cup of coffee or a sip of Vinsanto or a grappa with honey.

Ingredients for 8 people

Dark chocolate: 130 g
Yolks: 2
Sugar: 70g
Water: 40g
Fresh cream: 250 ml
White nougat: 230 g
Cream: 100ml

Preparation: 1 hour
Cooking: 10 minutes
Total: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Calories: 311 calories/portion

For the pate à bombe

Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a low flame. Measure the temperature of the syrup with a cooking thermometer until it reaches 121°.

Meanwhile, pour the egg yolks into a bowl and start beating them with an electric mixer at medium speed.

As soon as the syrup reaches 121°, turn off the heat and pour it slowly into the yolks, continuing to whisk at maximum speed, until it cools down. The mixture should be clear, swollen and frothy.

For the semifreddo

Place a glass or steel bowl in the refrigerator for two hours or in the freezer for about half an hour.

Chop the dark chocolate and the white nougat with a knife.

Pour the cream, kept in the refrigerator, into the bowl that you have cooled.

Whip it with an electric mixer at maximum speed, until it is shiny and well whipped.

Add half of the whipped cream to the pate à bombe, mixing with a spatula with movements from the bottom up so as not to disassemble the mixture.

Add the last part and always mix from bottom to top.

Finally, pour in the chopped nougat and chocolate.

Line a 20×10 cm loaf pan with cling film.

Pour the mixture into the mold and place in the freezer for at least 8 hours.

For the dark chocolate ganache

Pour the cream into a bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute, or in a saucepan on the stove over low heat for 3 minutes, until it almost boils.

Meanwhile, chop the dark chocolate.

Pour the chopped chocolate into the cream and mix with a spatula until the mixture is smooth, velvety and shiny.

For decoration

Gently unmold the semifreddo onto a serving plate and remove the foil.

Chop the nougat and decorate the semifreddo with a few spoonfuls of ganache and the chopped nougat

Serve with hot or warm chocolate sauce.

Accessories

Thick bottomed saucepan
Kitchen thermometer
Electric hand mixer
Spatula
Bowl
20×10 loaf pan
Food film

Advice and tips

The nougat semifreddo can be kept in the freezer and should be consumed within 1 month.

If you don’t want to use raw eggs, you can pasteurize them: whip the yolks in a bowl with electric whisks while cooking in a bain-marie, then with a pot of boiling water under the bowl. Mount the eggs measuring the temperature with a cooking thermometer. The eggs are pasteurized when they reach a temperature of 60-65°.

You can also use white chocolate, gianduia cream or hazelnut crumble for the topping.

History

The nougat semifreddo is a dessert widespread throughout Italy, but it is probable that its origins are from Cremona: in fact, it is said that nougat was invented in Cremona in honor of the wedding of Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza in 1441mixing egg whites, honey and almonds to obtain a dessert which they called “torrone” in honor of the Torrazzo, the bell tower of the Cathedral.