Zabaglione Ice Cream with Balsamic Blueberries

Have you ever viewed the program, Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag?  It's a show I started watching when I came back to Canada.  The duo came up with the idea of Shopping Bags back in 1999 where they test new products, give their feedback and discuss whether or not the product lives up to its name.  From there, Anna and Kristina introduced Grocery Bag where they focus on the kitchen and review cookbooks by preparing the dishes in the books.  They're a cute duo and they give their honest opinions on the recipes they make. The banter between them is quite refreshing.  Anna and Kristina usually prepare 5 to 7 dishes per episode and also invite a chef to sample what has been cooked.  Afterwards, they critique it and say whether or not the cookbook is worth buying.  The ice cream I made reminded me of something Anna and Kristina would enjoy making and I think they would give the recipe two thumbs down for the outcome!  Although I don't make a lot of desserts, I am no stranger to having made my fare share over the years.  I'm still perplexed as to what went wrong.  I'm surprised at the outcome as I can't ever recall a recipe from Delicious to be anything but good.  Zabaglione is a simple Italian custard and is used to fill cakes, tartlets and choux puffs.

Serves 4-6
recipe from Delicious magazine
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5 egg yokes
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
300ml thickened cream (whipping cream)
80ml (1/3 cup) amaretto liqueur

Balsamic Berries:
55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
125g punnet blueberries
2 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar

Place egg yokes in a heatproof bowl with sugar and whisk until pale.  Place bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (don't let bowl touch the water).  Whisk for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens and leaves a trail when lifted.  Remove bowl from heat and whisk until cool.

In  a separate bowl, whip cream to soft peaks with liqueur, then fold into egg mixture.  Pour into a shallow container and freeze for 2 hours until frozen at edges.  Remove and beat with electric beaters.  Refreeze.  Repeat 2 or 3 times until frozen or churn in an ice cream machine according to instructions.

For berries, stir sugar and 60ml (1/4 cup) water in a pan over low heat until sugar dissolves.  Simmer for 2 minutes, then add berries and balsamic vinegar, and stir for 1 minute.  Chill.  Serve ice cream drizzled with berries and syrup.

The Culinary Chase's Note:  For some odd reason, the ice cream never did harden.  It was more like a very soft gelato.  I could scoop the ice cream out but within minutes the scoop would collapse and I was left with more of a puddle of ice cream.  The flavor, however, was pleasing although I think 1/3 cup of amaretto was a bit too overpowering.  The other thing I thought odd was the picture from the magazine shows the blueberries and syrup in a lovely blueberry shade but how can this be if aged balsamic vinegar is added?  Plus, there's no way this would feed 4 to 6 people unless the scoop was very tiny and that's certainly not indicative in their photo.  I would make this again (perhaps in an ice cream maker?) but I would reduce the amount of amaretto and I wouldn't use balsamic vinegar.