Luxardo-Luscious Dessert

Some of my favorite food memories are of the simplest of dishes. This doesn't mean that they're flat. They're interesting and complex, but, typically, they arrive at the table having come through only a few steps in the preparation process or with the fewest ingredients. They still require skill and finesse; they just don't have to take all day or require a basket full of ingredients. Today's recipe is one such outcome--a dessert so easy to prepare that you cannot believe it tastes so sophisticated or looks so luxurious and elegant that you dare not share the recipe or the secret ingredient, which, incidentally, is linked to one of my favorite cocktails and to an interesting history. Curious?

The Backstory (a little bit of stalling):

One of my favorite cocktails is the classic Manhattan. Two parts rye, one part red (sweet) vermouth, a few shakes of bitters. Stir madly with lots of ice until it's very, very cold. Strain into a martini glass with one Luxardo cherry, the original Maraschino. This cocktail is at its best when shared with friends, truly it is! But, I digress. These cherries are everything that the neon red Maraschino cherries from the neighborhood grocery store are not. They are tangy, they are toothy, they are petite, they are luscious and so, so elegant. And they come packed in this syrup that is sweet but not too sweet, containing all of the lusciousness and sophistication of the cherries that it cradles. But, you use up the cherries and the syrup remains. What to do? Want to know more?

So, the folks at Epicurious.com do a great job of explaining the history of the secret ingredient (or part of it), the original Maraschino cherry. I will leave the telling of this story to them, and I'll skip on over to today's recipe, the Luxardo-Luscious. Oooooooooh!!!

The secret ingredient

The Luxardo-Luscious

• Vanilla ice-cream, the very best you can source.
• Fresh orange zest
• Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup
• Nothing else

Beginning with the somewhat softened ice-cream, layer up with the cherry syrup directly into a glass. Finish with the syrup. Top with the orange zest. Serve immediately.

For today's dessert, beer snifters are optional, but they do seem to be the perfect vessel, even allowing for drinking up the melted ice-cream and bits of syrup at the bottom. If you're contemplating another glass, you have been warned. And, in a pinch, go ahead and use a bowl, but part of this experience is the visual melding of color and texture that only a glass vessel can offer. My beer-sniffing vessels came from Quest Brewing Company in Greenville, South Carolina, and I find them to be the perfect size.

Blood oranges are not very sweet and have a hint of raspberry.
And look at that amazing color! They complement the cherry syrup and ice-cream very well.

Options

1. When blood they are in season, replace the orange zest with blood orange segments. They're not as sweet and offer 
2. If you have cake available, break it up into large crumbles and toss it with a generous amount of an orange-infused simple syrup until it's moist.* Layer with the soaked cake crumbles at the bottom of the glass, then ice-cream, and then cherry syrup. Repeat and top with orange zest.
3. Go wild. Cake crumble layer, blood orange layer, ice-cream layer, cherry syrup layer. Repeat.

My favorite way is the simplest way...although the cake and blood orange combo is fabulous!!!

*Orange-infused simple syrup: Combine and bring to a boil 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup water and the peel of half an orange. Cook until the sugar has melted, whisk in 4 tablespoons of orange liqueur like Grand Marnier and set aside for a few hours or 30 minutes if you're in a hurry.