How do you make a meal fit for a king? Just ask the chefs at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, who this week cooked an Italian feast at a state banquet for King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to Italy.
The menu followed the classic Italian route — vegetables from the president’s garden to start, then a pasta course of bottoni with aubergine caponata, followed by fish — salt-baked sea bass with roast potatoes, stuffed courgette flowers and fried artichokes. But it was the dolce course of fior di latte ice cream cake with raspberries that had me thinking: “Bravo!”
Fior di latte, which translates to “flower of milk”, is the simplest ice cream flavour with the key ingredients of cream, milk and sugar — no eggs, no vanilla, no chocolate — and crucially is not to be confused with fior di latte mozzarella. And you don’t have to go to Rome to try it.
King Charles and Queen Camilla in Rome earlier this week
CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES
“It’s got the pure flavour of good milk and is a staple you should find in every gelateria,” explains the chef Jacob Kennedy, who owns Bocca di Lupo restaurant and Gelupo gelateria in London, where fior di latte is on the menu. “Of the wide range of classic flavours, fior di latte is queen.”
Indeed, fior di latte is the coolest flavour in Britain right now. Just ask Jackson Boxer, the head chef at Dove in Notting Hill, the restaurant loved by the likes of Nigella Lawson. Along with the bistro’s much-feted beefburger, the dish everyone is raving about is Boxer’s £10 fior di latte soft serve, which comes in a chilled metal coupe. How can something so simple cause such a stir? Because for a peppery kick, Boxer generously drizzles extra virgin olive oil on his fior di latte, and serves it with oat cookies rather than with cake.
It’s a similar story in Pimlico at Wildflowers, a new Mediterranean restaurant only 20 minutes on foot from Buckingham Palace, and where Giles Coren dished out 8.5 stars when he dined there in December. Here, an £11 portion of fior di latte comes topped with balsamic and olive oils, the perfect way to round off a rich meal of deep-fried calamari and aioli sandwiches and lamb tartare.
Or you could try it garnished with rosemary, a pinch of sea salt, olive oil and homemade granola at Bancone, the pasta restaurant group in London.
“It’s cleansing and refreshing,” Kennedy says. “It is the essence of nobility — humble, elegant and good company.” Truly fit for a king then.
Jacob Kennedy’s fior di latte recipe
Makes about 1 litre/15 scoops
Ingredients
For the base bianca
• 130g granulated or caster sugar
• 40g skimmed milk powder
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 640ml whole milk
• 40g light runny honey
For the fior di latte gelato
• 250ml double cream
Method
1. To make the base bianca, in a small bowl, stir the sugar, milk powder and corn starch together thoroughly.
2. Put the milk and honey in a saucepan. Heat gently until barely simmering.
3. Pour the contents of the bowl into the warm milk mixture in a steady stream, stirring as you go. Continue to stir until the mixture just returns to the boil, then remove from the heat.
4. Cover the pan and leave the base to cool to room temperature. It will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge if allowed to cool, then refrigerated immediately.
5. To make the fior di latte gelato, stir or blend the cream into the base bianca.
6. Churn the mixture in your ice-cream machine until fully firm.
7. Before serving, put the fior di latte gelato in the freezer for half an hour or so to firm up. If it has been stored in the freezer longer and is too firm, allow it to soften.
