Gelati a la Waldorf- Apple, Celery and Mayo(EVOO) Gelati with Candied Walnuts

Directions

1. Prepare the three gelati flavors
2. Apple Gelato: In a small pot, boil the water and add the sugar , stirring til melted. Add the corn syrup, lemon juice and apples, simmer for about 25 minutes until soft and mushy. Remove from heat, cool a while, puree in mini processor and push through fine strainer. Mix cream and milk in saucepan, bring to boil and add corn syrup, stirring til melted.Remove from heat. Whisk yolks with some of the hot cream mixture. Add back into saucepan and cook over low heat stirring bottom constantly with flat edged wooden paddle until custard thickens to 170°F( and custard coats back of spoon so that when you run your finger across it, it leaves an open trail). Or- cook over a low simmering water bath stirring constantly so eggs don't curdle.
3. Immediately strain through fine sieve. Add corn syrup, apple purée and vanilla. Transfer to lidded container and press saran down on top of custard to prevent skin from forming. Let cool,store in coldest part of refrigerator (lower rear corner) for 1- 2 days. Churn in ice cream machine. Store in freezer in tightly lidded container.
4. Celery Gelato: Put celery in a small pot and add water just until the celery is covered. Bring to boil and simmer 35-40 minutes until celery is soft. Puree in a mini processor. Strain(push and scrape) through a fine mesh strainer and set aside. You should have about 1? c celery juice. Whisk together cream, milk, sugar,star anise and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.Simmer a few minutes. Cover and let sit, 1/2-1 hour, to develop the desired star anise flavor, mild or strong. Remove star anise and add celery juice. Meanwhile, whisk yolks very well while adding the hot cream mixture. Add all back into saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with flat bottomed wooden paddle,until thickened (170°F). Do not let the mixture curdle. Immediately remove from heat and strain through fine sieve. Add corn syrup. Whisk in green tea powder. (If you want to highlight the celery flavor, but add a little green color, add 1 Tablespoon; if you want a stronger green tea flavor, add 2-3 Tablespooons.)Cover with saran, refrigerate, churn and freeze per above. ? ?
5. EVOO Gelato: adapted from Ashley Viegas In mini processor, grind sugar with lemon zest until wet and mushy. Bring water to boil, add this lemon sugar and stir to dissolve, and simmer 5 minutes.Bring to low boil for 5 minutes.Remove from heat and cool mixture.Beat the eggs and yolks and slowly drizzle in extra virgin olive oil. Whisk in the lemon sugar , salt and milk. Cover with saran, refrigerate, churn and freeze per above.
6. * I use a bit of Corn syrup in gelati to make it softer. Corn syrup is sweeter than sugar, so when you substitute corn syrup for sugar, use 3/4 as much.

1. Prepare the Apple Chips and Candied Walnuts; Assemble
2. Bring water to boil, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add star anise and apple slices, turn down heat and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes. Turn off and let rest in syrup a few hours. (This will make shiny slices that never get crisp.) Alternately, add sliced lemon coated apples to cooled syrup for 3-4 hours.(This will make crisp but not shiny chips.) For either type, place apple slices on a silpat lined sheet pan or a non-stick spray- coated sheet pan. Bake at 200 degrees F a few hours til crisp. Remove from oven and cool. They will crisp further out of the oven as they cool.
3. Boil leftover apple syrup .Drop in walnuts on one side of the pot and celery shavings on the other. Dunk all to cover with syrup. Turn off heat and let sit a few hours, uncovered. Remove from syrup and dry at least 4 hours- til shiny, walnuts spaced apart and celery shavings in a mound.
4. Assemble: Place a flat apple chip just below the center of a plate that has been chilled in the freezer. Top the back half of the chip with a scoop of apple gelato. Place an apple chip, tilted forward, behind and leaning on the apple gelato. Place a scoop of celery gelato behind the apple chip, with a scoop of Mayonnaise gelato behind that, ending with a last apple chip, tilted forward, leaning on the gelato. Place a small sprig of celery with leaves at the top and bottom of the plate. Place a mound of candied celery shavings next to the gelati and scatter candied walnuts around the plate.
5. Note: Egg whites last forever in the freezer, in a tightly covered container. Just defrost them on the counter long enough to cut into them, then cut out and measure the amount you need for a recipe, let defrost further to use; and refreeze remaining egg whites.