Fruit Ice Cream Sundae (Ovocný Zmrzlinový Pohár)

Slovak food is not just soups, dumplings, stews or schnitzels! Slovak people love going to cukráreň or pastry shop, place where one finds elaborate pastries, decorated lattes (served in tall clear glasses, with milk and coffee layers neatly separated), and ice cream sundaes. Here is a “recipe” for one such ice cream (zmrzlina) “glass” (pohár).

Ingredients: several different kinds of ice cream, canned or fresh fruit, whipped cream, ground nuts, wafers, chocolate topping
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Take your favorite fruit (ovocie) and place it into a sundae glass. If you use canned fruit, make sure to first drain out the syrup. I used mandarin oranges (mandarínky) but berries, cherries or grapes are also popular. Top the fruit with scoops of your favorite ice cream. I used four different kinds: pistachio (which doesn’t show up too well because I had only little bit left, pistáčio), vanilla (vanilka), strawberry (jahody) and chocolate (čokoláda).

When adding the ice cream, leave room in one section for whipped cream (šlahačka). Also add some wafers, such as Nilla wafer or wafer crisps (keksíky). Top with berries, ground walnuts, and chocolate shavings. My inspiration for making this treat came from this sundae photo I found on google.sk. That one is topped with red currant (červené ríbezle), delicious tart berry that is common in Slovakia, but hard to find in the States. The reason is that currant farming was banned in several American states, as it carries white pine blister rust, type of fungus that attacks pine trees. Currant is however slowly making a comeback here in the US as well.

And there you have it, even with a glass of latte. I have yet to learn how to get the layers to separate (like in this photo). By the way, that obrúsok (place mat) was hand stitched by my grandma.