SERVINGS

Serves 10

INGREDIENTS

8 cups dead-ripe blackberries

2 cups sugar

2 pints high-quality chocolate ice cream

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped fine

2 tablespoons brandy

Mint sprigs

PREPARATION

1.    Make the bombe in a 10-cup bowl, preferably stainless-steel, that fits in your freezer. Press two sheets of aluminum foil into the bowl so that they overlap and extend a couple of inches past the edge of the bowl all around. Put the bowl in the freezer.

2.    Mash 4 cups of the blackberries with a potato masher, then pour into a sieve set over another bowl. Work the pulp back and forth with the back of a spoon so that as much of the liquid as possible drips into the bowl. Leave the remaining pulp in the sieve. Combine 1¹/2 cups of the sugar and 1¹/2 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, until all the sugar is dissolved. Pour the sugar solution through the blackberry pulp remaining in the sieve, and press again to get out as much liquid as possible.

3.    Chill the syrup-juice mixture thoroughly, then pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the maker’s instructions. When it’s firm, spoon it into the bowl you’ve lined with foil and placed in the freezer.
Using the back of a spoon or spatula, smooth the blackberry sorbet over the bottom and up the sides of the bowl, making a layer a generous inch thick and leaving the center hollow. Freeze for 3 hours or more, until very firm.

4.    When the blackberry sorbet has frozen firmly, let the ice cream soften slightly. Place it in a medium bowl and mix in the bits of semisweet chocolate. Spoon this into the hollow in the center of the bombe and spread to even the ice cream with the top of the sorbet. Cover with foil and place back in the freezer. Freeze for at least 4 hours more, preferably overnight.

5.    While this is freezing, make the sauce. Combine 3 cups of blackberries, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and the brandy in a nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often.  ....read more