When we were in Verona for our honeymoon, we were introduced to a dessert unlike anything we’d ever seen before: three kinds of gelato served inside of a Sicilian brioche bun.

When someone hears the name Verona, one of the places most people’s heads go to is “Romeo and Juliet.” For this pairing, I chose my favorite version: Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 “Romeo + Juliet.” In my opinion, the love story of gelato and brioche should be just as lasting and known as the story of Romeo and Juliet.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any brioche that was both vegan and gluten-free (if you know of one, drop it in the comments). That means this recipe is just vegan, making 4 sandwiches plus some extra gelato.

Pistachio Gelato Ingredients
0.25 cups pistachios, shelled
1.5 cups pistachio milk
1.5 cups pistachio oat creamer
2 teaspoons pistachio baking emulsion
0.25 cups sugar
0.25 cups additional shelled pistachios (optional)

Chocolate Gelato Ingredients
1.5 cups oat milk
1.5 cups coconut creamer
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
0.25 cups sugar
0.25 cups cocoa powder
0.25 cups mini vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Strawberry Gelato Ingredients
0.5 cups frozen strawberries
1.5 cups oat milk
1.5 cups plant cream
2 teaspoons strawberry extract
0.25 cups sugar
0.25 cups additional strawberries (optional)

Toppings
2.5 ounces vegan white chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut creamer

Additional Ingredients
4 vegan brioche rolls or buns

Instructions
Note that each of these gelato recipes yields two pints, which is more than you’ll need to make the four gelato brioche sandwiches.

Shell the quarter cup of pistachios needed for the pistachio gelato then pour them into a blender.

Pour the pistachio milk, pistachio creamer, pistachio extract/emulsion and sugar into the blender. If you don’t have pistachio extract, vanilla extract works just fine.

Pulse the blender for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are easily mixed.

What happens next depends on your ice cream maker. If you have a more standard one, you’ll pull your chilled (for 24 hours) bowl out and make the gelato.

If you have one like mine, you pour the mixture into the pints then freeze them for 24 hours.

After that time, you put the pint into your ice cream maker and let it do its magic.

For an extra pinch of pistachio flavor, add additional pistachios in there at the end of a normal ice cream maker’s cycle or using the mix-in setting if you have one like mine.

To make the chocolate gelato, pour the oat milk, coconut creamer, vanilla extract, sugar and cocoa into the cleaned out blender.

Pulse the blender for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are easily mixed.

Follow the steps to make the gelato according to the type of ice cream maker you have (see above).

For an extra charge of chocolate flavor, add mini chocolate chips in there at the end of a normal ice cream maker’s cycle or using the mix-in setting if you have one like mine.

Strawberry time! Start with the strawberries and pour the milk, cream, extract and sugar over the top. If you don’t have strawberry extract, vanilla will work.

Pulse until there are no longer large bits of strawberry.

Follow the steps to make the gelato according to the type of ice cream maker you have (see above).

For an extra streak of strawberry, add additional frozen strawberries in there at the end of a normal ice cream maker’s cycle or using the mix-in setting if you have one like mine.

As your gelato is processing, prepare the white chocolate topping. Melt your white chocolate in the microwave, heating for 30 seconds at a time followed by a good stir.

When the chocolate has completely melted, stir in the creamer to soften it a little. Set aside.

Remove the shells from the topping pistachios and gently crush the nuts so they’re in smaller pieces.

If your brioche buns didn’t come sliced, slice them open.

Scoop 1 scoop of each of the three flavors of gelato (pistachio, chocolate, strawberry) onto the bun.

Top with a drizzle of the white chocolate topping and the crushed pistachios.

Place the top of the bun on top of the gelato and enjoy!

The Easy Route
One way to make this easier is buying pistachios that are already shelled. We tried to do this, but our grocery store was out of them.

The easiest route would be to buy premade vegan pistachio, chocolate and strawberry gelato, or ice cream if you can’t find vegan gelato. I feel like the chocolate and strawberry would be easy enough to come by, but a vegan pistachio gelato or ice cream might be trickier (drop a comment if you know where to find this).

The Pairing
From the start of “Romeo + Juliet,” you know this will be unlike any Shakespearean adaptation you’ve ever seen before. It is a stylized piece of cinema.

Taking William Shakespeare’s work and adding a dreamboat like Leonardo DiCaprio and a great soundtrack to the mix was right up tween Cat’s alley.

I do understand that this adaptation is not for everyone, but it is most definitely for those of us who grew up in the 1990s.

In addition to DiCaprio as Romeo, you’ve got Claire Danes as Juliet, Paul Rudd as Paris, Harold Perrineau as Mercutio and John Leguizamo as Tybalt.

It certainly was unlike any stuffy Shakespearean adaptation I’d seen before, and in some ways, the style reminded me of a really long music video. Which, honestly, at that time in my tween life, was another reason I felt like it was made for me.

I was just starting to get into Shakespeare’s work around this time, and this movie served as a tipping point to get me to read more of his work and check out other film adaptations.

A lot of the trailblazing aspects of this adaptation can be credited to Luhrmann as the filmmaker, but every piece of this film contributes to the style it’s dripping with, from cinematography and editing to costumes and set design.

Plus, as I indicated earlier, the cast is a who’s who of iconic ’90s actors. In addition to the folks I listed above, you’ve got Brian Dennehy as Papa Montague, Christina Pickles (a.k.a. Ross and Monica’s mom on “Friends”) as Mama Montague and Paul Sorvino as Papa Capulet.

Then there’s the soundtrack, from the Radiohead song that provides a wonderful introduction of Romeo, to Juliet glowing with the sounds of “Lovefool” by The Cardigans.

As we have learned in the years since, “Romeo + Juliet” was just the start of Luhrmann’s immense talent being showcased on film. I will definitely be including his masterpiece “Moulin Rouge” in a future blog post pairing.

If you decide to make this gelato brioche sandwich and/or watch “Romeo + Juliet,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes

This is part five of our five-part (entirely vegan) Honeymoon in Italy series. The others:
Part 1: “Brideshead Revisited” + Aperol Spritz
Part 2: “Roman Holiday” + Supplì
Part 3: “Searching for Italy” + Purple Potato & Quinoa Pizza
Part 4: “Master of None” + Pappardelle