Gelo di Melone

1. Halve the watermelon and cut it into slices/pieces. Remove the flesh and cut it into large cubes. Remove any seeds from the melon pieces.

2. Place the melon cubes in a large, deep bowl and puree them with an immersion blender for about 2-3 minutes (this yields approximately 1.5 liters of liquid).

3. Wash and roughly chop mint leaves, mix them into the melon puree, and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Then, pass the puree through a kitchen sieve using a pastry scraper into a tall saucepan. Discard any residues in the sieve (remaining flesh, seeds, and mint leaves).

4. Stir agar agar into a small amount of liquid melon juice in a bowl until smooth. Mix it into the cold melon puree before proceeding to step 5.

5. Bring the melon puree with freshly squeezed juice from a lemon to a boil in the saucepan. Stir in sugar, reduce heat to medium, and pour in the smoothly stirred agar agar. Let it simmer while stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. The melon puree will start to thicken and regain its color. Strain the hot melon puree through a kitchen sieve again to catch any lumps. Finally, fold in finely grated dark chocolate into the hot mousse, and season with a pinch of cinnamon. Due to the use of agar agar, the Gelo di Melone will gel only upon cooling and will become firm after approximately 2-3 hours of refrigeration.

6. Pour the hot Gelo di Melone into dessert glasses and let it cool in the refrigerator. Serve sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts and grated chocolate.