When I was in Italy
(Albisola Superiore) a few years back I went with a friend to her grandparents'
house for a family dinner. After a few hours of chatting, in what I'm sure was
absolutely flawless Italian (ha, yeah right!), everyone had settled in for the
evening. Suddenly there's my friend's 6-year old niece jumping up and down in
front of me, chanting something. It took me a while to figure out what that
was, as children's voices are pretty high-pitched and therefore often difficult
to decipher when heard at speed. I figured it out and (proudly) informed her
mother that the little girl wanted some dessert. She was chanting 'tiramisu!
tiramisu!'. Fair conclusion eh? Now imagine a living room full of
Italians laughing heartily as only
they seem to know how. Turns out 'tiramisu' means 'pick me up', which is what
the little girl wanted. She wanted to see my (erstwhile) nose piercing. Of
course.
In NZ however you're pretty safe with assuming
demands of 'tiramisu, tiramisu!' relate to hunger and a desire for dessert.
Until last weekend I'd not whipped out one of these delectably indulgent treats
for several years, which I now know was a foolish waste of good eating time. It
is the most satisfyingly creamy, rich, but not sickly delight I think you'll
come across this side of whatever the other side is. Yum yum, seriously it's so
good. The marscapone can be pretty pricey, but it makes enough to feed about
6-8 people. And who knows - there might even be some left over to eat for
breakfast?
From personal experience - make sure your coffee is
good and strong, stronger than you'd likely drink it. If you have a coffee
maker, great - short short black. The amount of sponge cake used was about 20
cm squared, standard size you might buy at the supermarket - it's best if it's a
little stale, maybe a couple of days old, so it doesn't go soggy. Any container
can be used, but if you have one half the size of your sponge, but twice as
high, perfect (I had some sponge and cream left over, so used a couple of little
ramekins as well).
250 g marscapone cheese 50 g sugar
sponge cake
30 ml strong coffee
cocoa, to dust
-
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in large bowl until pale. Beat in the cheese until creamy and smooth.
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In separate bowl beat egg whites until fluffy and peaks can form.
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Gently fold whites into marscapone mixture. This is now marscapone cream.
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Cover the base of your dish with sponge. Drizzle with coffee (not too much, as you want moistened, but not saturated). Cover with marscapone cream. Repeat.
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Dust with cocoa and chill in fridge for at least an hour.
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Serve by itself, or with some fresh berries alongside.
Nb: If you want the taste of berries (which go
really well), but it's winter, grab some frozen or tinned ones and add a layer
of berries between the sponge and cream. Make sure they're well drained, or
omit the coffee and use a little berry juice instead.
Oooo - I've never made one with eggs in the marscapone - now I'm going to have to! Also, the Tatua brand of marscapone is reasonably priced at around $4.50, it's a new-ish brand which means making Tiramisu is actually going to happen more often than once in a blue moon. I'm sure it's only a 200gm packed, but generally have greek yoghurt or sour cream on hand, so could lengthen the mix to have the requisite 250gms. Tasty tasty tasty xox
ReplyDeleteI recognise those dishes! Glad to see they are being put to good use!
ReplyDeleteLooks wicked bro! Better than half the ones they make in some of the restaurants here in Viareggio! Yum!!!
Tatua, yes, I've used their creme fraiche. Good call, 'cause a little yoghurt will certainly do the trick. It's super with eggs and, with your love of Hollandaise, right up your alley Sus.
ReplyDelete