Daniel Goldwater
Chef CMRJ
Jerusalem
Israel
Dolce De Vita
The sweetness of life. The Italians have been refining the sweetness in their lives for more than two thousand years. Roman orgies known for their excesses, including vomitoria, were already refining reflux, desserts and indulgence back in the day. While most of their desserts were based around fresh fruits, nuts, honey and dates, they did make cakes and even baked cheese cakes.
Moving on, while the French have accepted the victory laurel wreaths and accolades for the refinement of modern desserts and cuisine, I believe there is a strong case to be made that it was in fact the Italians who bequeathed modern patisserie and cooking to the boorish and less cultured Francs better known to us today as “The French”. It was Catherine de Medici who married Henry II, the King of France, in the sixteenth century. Sources tell that Catherine visited France before the marriage settlement and was so shocked at the miserable “household” culture in the Royal Palace that she made her move to the French royal court conditional on being able to bring with her to France her chefs, pastry chefs and bakers from her home in Florence. In fact the French petit four we all know as a ‘macaroon’ is from the Venetian word macaron (Italian dialect) meaning paste. Anyone who knows how to make “French Macaroons” knows they’re made using Italian meringue, not French meringue, mixed with a Venetian paste of egg whites and finely ground almond flour.
Tiramisu! Find me an Italian eatery without tiramisu and I will give you “Demi Fortuna” (½ a lira). Tiramisu literally means ‘pick me up’; as the story goes it was a panacea tossed together to assist those hard working ladies of the night to wind down and relax as the hubbub of the evening trade faded into the encroaching dawn. While super popular today, tiramisu is a relatively new invention with no known references to the dolce before the 1960s.
Panna cotta, or literally “cooked cream” is the Italian answer to the German creme Bavaria, Unlike the Bavaria, which is combined using eggs, the panna cotta is partly cooked by reducing half of the cream (without eggs) and then combining the mixture with gelatine. Traditionally flavoured with vanilla, today there are no holds barred when flavouring panna cotta. Lemon zest, Bacardi, arak, tehina; you can infuse it with whatever goes. Panna cotta is usually accompanied by a coulee of some exotic fruit or berry. It’s a delightfully light and refreshing dessert: a bellissimo way to top off a tasty Italian meal. Unfortunately, I had a very long week in the kitchen this last week and couldn’t muster the energy to make the panna cotta as well. So it will have to make its appearance solo in next week’s column.
Tiramisu
Most tiramisu sold in eateries today is a semi frozen version constructed of lady finger biscuits placed in instant coffee and alcohol flavoured whipped cream topped by cocoa powder, stabilised using gelatine. This is of course fine, but it is not the real McCoy, rather a thrifty and quicker way to produce a coffee flavoured cream dessert.
Tiramisu in its more traditional forms is made from layers of zabaglione which consists of cooked egg yolks, sugar and Marsala or port wine, coffee flavoured mascarpone cheese, savoiardi or lady finger biscuits softened in milk flavoured with coffee and fortified wine. I add a layer of lightly whipped cream with a touch of pure vanilla essence and grated bitter chocolate for the topping.
Ingredients:
Egg Yolks x 4
Egg whites x 3
White sugar x ½ a cup
Marsala or port wine x ½ cup
Very strong espresso coffee x ½ a cup
Whipping cream x 250 ml
Mascarpone cheese x 200-250 gram
Vanilla essence x 1 teaspoon
Bitter chocolate x 20 gram
Milk x 1 cup
Savoiardi/lady finger biscuits x 1 packet
Method:
Separate yolks and whites into two separate bowls. Beat the whites to soft peaks and set aside. Place a pot on the stove with an inch of water in it, bring to boil and turn down to simmer. In a bowl add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat with a hand whisk until pale in colour, place on the bain marie and slowly whisk the egg yolk mixture adding two thirds of the alcohol bit by bit as you go.The mixture will start to thicken; if you are not experienced it is best to use an electronic thermometer to avoid scrambled eggs. The desired temperature is 72-73 Celsius.
Once thickened, using a whisk gently fold the egg whites into the zabaglione and set aside. Take the mascarpone and using a fork or whisk mix in half of the espresso coffee, set aside. In a third bowl add a teaspoon of quality vanilla to the whipping (38%) cream, whisk to soft peaks, set aside.
Pour the milk into a bowl, add remaining alcohol and coffee to milk. Grate the bitter chocolate onto a plate on a fine grater or microplane and set aside in the freezer.
Have an appropriate container or aluminium tray approximately 15cm x 25cm ready. Take each lady finger individually and submerge briefly in the milk mixture, shake off excess milk and place in the base of the tray side by side.
Once the bottom layer is complete pour half of zabaglione onto the lady fingers and using a small spatula spread evenly over the surface of the lady fingers, repeat with mascarpone mix and then with cream mix.
Place next layer of lady fingers, dipping in milk and shaking off excess. Pour remaining half of zabaglione, mascarpone and cream mixes one after the other.
Finally, remove grated chocolate from freezer and pour into a sieve, shake evenly over the final cream layer.
Close lid or cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours, before cutting, removing and eating.
HEAVEN!!! There literally aren’t things like this anymore.
Next week I will do the panna cotta that I didn’t manage this week. Remember the tiramisu is a high cholesterol high sugar item and comes with one of those jump up and down intensely warnings. You really do have to burn off those calories if you want to gorge on these delicacies.
Ciao
