Lemon Tart

This truly is the perfect lemon tart. "This is a throw back to culinary school days when we would practice making this tart endlessly. When done right, it's fantastic. I usually play it loose with the recipes but this one you must follow precisely. Not that it is difficult, just several steps involved...but  well worth the effort."

 

 Look for this one in the Autumn when we start back up our LIVE from ITALY: Online Cooking Classes!!

 

 

 It can be made as a large tart or as individual tartlets.
The puckery lemon custard delivers a pure lemon flavor, perfect ending to any meal!

Shortbread Dough (Pâte sablée)
255 g flour, sifted (9 oz)
150 g butter (3.5 oz)
90 g confectioners sugar (3 oz)
few drops of vanilla
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
1-2 tablespoons ice cold water

Sift the flour onto the work surface and make a well in the center.
Dice the butter and place it in the well, then work it with your fingertips until its very soft.
Sift the confectioners’ sugar on the the butter and add the salt, working it into the butter.
Add the egg yolks and mix well. Gradually draw in the flour and mix until completely incorporated/amalgamated. Add the vanilla extract.
Give the dough a turn or two.
Briefly kneed the dough and form into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. (Dough will keep well refrigerated for several days if necessary.)

When well chilled (an hour or so), roll out on your board. Transfer to an  8 in. tart ring. Blind bake at 375 F / 190 C

Lemon Cream
175 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (6 oz) - about 5-6 lemons
150 g unsalted butter at room temperature (3.5 oz) - cut into pieces
200 g sugar (7 oz)
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks

In a stainless steel pot, heat the lemon juice, butter and 150 g sugar over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture comes to a gentle simmer (about 2 minutes).

Using a wire whisk, beat the eggs, egg yolks, and remaining 50 g sugar until the mixture is pale and light (about 4-5 minutes).  Slowly pour half of the hot lemon juice mixture into the egg/sugar mixture to temper, beating until blending and fluffy. 

Return the mixture to the saucepan containing remaining  hot lemon mixture and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spoon, until the mixture nearly starts to simmer - about 3 minutes.

Transfer the lemon cream to a metal bowl and place over a water bath to cool. (If not using immediately, lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream.)

When cool, spread the lemon cream evenly into the pastry shell. Smooth the top with a spatula. Place the tart back in the oven and bake for 5 minutes to set the filling slightly without coloring it.

Carefully remove the tart if made in a ring pan and let cool on a wire rack. Place in the fridge until the tart until the filling is firm. Remove from the fridge 10-15 minutes before serving.

Garnish with compote of wild berries or candied lemon zest!

No Bake Dessert: Poached Peaches with Rosemary in White Wine with Mascarpone Cream

A gorgeous oven-free, gluten-free, no-bake dessert perfect for those hot summer nights!  This dessert has become a classic in our kitchen and cooking classes throughout stone fruit season. It's light & fresh, and even after a long Italian meal, everyone has room for a little peaches & cream! 

It's not only easy to make, but the ingredients are flexible; use white, rosè or red wine (finish off that bottle of white that's been sitting in the fridge for the last 2 nights...) The same with aromatics - rosemary, thyme, lemon, lavender...whatever you've got on hand. (This is why its so important to have an herb garden!)

Poached Peaches in White Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 firm peaches or nectarines (mature fruit will fall apart)
2-3 spoons of sugar
white or rosè wine
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
zest of ½ lemon (use ANY aromatics you like)
homemade whipped cream or mascarpone cream if you like

With a paring knife cut the fruit in half and remove the stone. If the stone will not come away easily, make a shallow incision around the stone and it will fall away once cooked.

Place the fruit cut side down in a pan or pot that fits the fruit snugly. Add in the aromatics with the sugar and top with wine until halfway up the fruit. Cover with baking paper (parchment) and bring the pan up to a medium simmer for 8-12 minutes total depending on the size of the fruit. Give the peaches a turn on their backs after about 5 minutes and they are done when a knife slips easily into the thickest part of the fruit.

Once the peaches are cooked, remove from the pan and place on a plate to cool. Return the pan to a low flame and reduce the wine until it becomes a syrup. Give it a taste - if its a little tart, add a spoonful of sugar. Be careful not to let this burn. Strain the syrup into a bowl and allow to cool.

To serve: Quarter the peaches and carefully remove the skins. Arrange on the plate and drizzle atop the white wine syrup and a dollop of cream.

Video Recipe: Crostata - Rustic Tart

Rustic Tart or Crostata: Traditionally made with marmalade, this rustic tart is found kept under a kitchen towel in most homes in our area. With strawberries in abundance this time of year, we use fresh fruit instead of jam.
This recipe is enough to make two 9-in/22cm tarts with lattice. Use what you have for the tart pans, we use round pizza pans.

Full Recipe can be found here: http://latavolamarcherecipebox.blogsp...

"Taste of Italy" is our webseries of shorts (under 2 min.) of life on our farm in Italy, the food, cooking classes, garden and more! 

Rustic Tart with Fresh Strawberries & Cream

Traditionally made with marmalade, this rustic tart is found kept under a kitchen towel in most homes in our area.  With strawberries in abundance this time of year, we use fresh fruit instead of jam.

This recipe is enough to make two 9-in/22cm tarts with lattice. Use what you have for the tart pans, we use round pizza pans.

Italian Rustic Tart with Strawberries
Crostata di Fragole

1 1/3 cup, 250g butter
4 cups, 500 g of flour
1 1/4 cups+ for dusting, 250g  sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon, 5g baking powder
2 full eggs + 3 yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
drop of booze - grappa, rum, brandy, anything you like
about a pint of fresh strawberries per tart, sliced
Optional: Serve with whipped cream or mascarpone cheese thinned out with milk.

Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla a few drops of your favorite liquor and beat in.
Sift together all the dry ingredients.
Incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter & egg mixture with a few strokes of a wooden spoon forming a dough.  Take 1/3 of the dough & and roll it out slightly larger than your  parchment lined tart pan. Roll down the edges of the dough to create the crust.
Arrange the strawberries slightly overlapping to cover the tart. You can sprinkle a little sugar over the strawberries, if they are in season this is not necessary.

To make the latticework top:
Pull off a pinch of dough & roll into a long snake. This is an easy dough to work with if it breaks just pinch it back together. This is a rustic tart. Moist hands will help if the dough is sticky.
Continue until you have enough to make your lattice top.

Bake in a preheated 350F/175C degree oven for about an hour or until the top is nice & brown, the bottom is cooked & the dough should shrink away from the pan a bit.

In loving memory

Cornflake Cookies - Biscotti ai Cereali

Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Classic Chocolate Chip and...Cornflakes?! Cornflake cookies are an easy to make, not too sweet dessert, perfect not only for the Holidays but any of time year! I had never seen/eaten these before we moved to Italy, though after a quick recipe search they are found all over from the States to Australia.

A cookie so simple, even I can make it! 

Buon Natale!

 Cornflake Cookies
Biscotti di cereali

makes 30 cookies

250 grams of flour
2 eggs
100 grams of sugar
100 grams of butter
4-6 tablespoons of raisins
tablespoon of vanilla extract
16 grams of ‘lieveto per dolci’ or baking powder
(handful of toasted pine nuts optional)
Corn Flakes

Preheat oven to 175 Celsius or  345 Fahrenheit.
Cream butter and sugar. Then add eggs and vanilla and blend. Sift flour and baking powder/lieveto.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the raisins and optional pine nuts.

Make small balls of dough and roll in Corn Flakes.
Bake for about 15-18 minutes.

Spiced Baked Figs with Vanilla Panna Cotta

Sweet dreams are made of this... Baked spiced figs with creamy vanilla panna cotta is utterly decadent and gorgeous on the plate! During an unseasonably late fig season, we are celebrating with wild green figs from our neighbors tree. I love figs with pecorino cheese and honey, but now that our neighbor Caroline taught us this recipe its a new favorite! A beautiful finish for your late summer, early-fall dinner.

Recipe for Panna Cotta with Baked Spiced Figs

Baked Spiced Figs:
12 small figs
1 vanilla stick
a pinch nutmeg
a pinch cinnamon
60-75gr. Sugar
butter

Preheat your oven up to 200C.

Butter an oven tin.
Cut the figs in half and place them face up and close together in the buttered tin.
Open the vanilla stick and take the pods out, drizzle the pods, cinnamon and nutmeg over the figs.
Bake in the oven for 15minutes, lower the temperature to 160 C., drizzle the sugar over the figs and keep in the oven for another 15minutes. Let them caramelize.

Vanilla Panna Cotta
serves 8
Ingredients for Panna Cotta
3 sheets of gelatin
scant 1/2 cup milk or 120 ml
2  cups or 500 ml heavy cream
1/2 cup or 60 g sugar
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise

Fill a bowl with water, add the gelatin and let is soak. Pour milk into a pan & bring to just below simmering, then remove the pan from the heat. Do NOT let it boil. Drain & squeeze out the gelatin & add it to the milk. Pour the cream into another pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Then remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla bean and stir in the milk mixture.

You can put the mixture into any kind of ramekin, mold, cup, you like. Rinse your 'glass' in ice-cold water, shaking out any excess water & fill with the milk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set (at least 3-4 hours). Turn out onto a serving dish & serve with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce.

fresh picked wild figs from Le Marche, Italy

Cookies & Cream Homemade Icecream, Amaretti Semifreddo with Wild Berry Compote

Summer in Italy means gelato, and lots of it! However we don't have an icecream machine and in our house, homemade semifreddo is just as good - plus any dessert that doesn't need the oven on is an added bonus!  Semifreddo literally translates to semi-cold or in this case, semi-frozen and let me tell you, trying to take a few photos on a hot June day with temps in the 90's F/30's C was more than difficult!

This recipe couldn't be more simple and is a great base to expand upon - get fruity by adding mashed raspberries to the mix instead of amaretti cookies for example and top with a dark chocolate ganache!

Cookies & Cream Semifreddo with Wild Berry Compote
Semifreddo al Amaretti con Frutta di Bosco

Serves 6-8
6 eggs
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
1 cup of amaretti (almond flavored cookies/macaroons), crushed
3 cups heavy cream

Whisk the eggs with the sugar in a heatproof, grease-free bowl, set over a pan of barely simmering water until thickened. Then remove from the heat and continue whisking the mixture until completely cool.

Stiffly whip the cream. Then fold in the egg mixture and crushed cookies.

Line a rectangular loaf pan with plastic wrap, pour in the mixture and smooth the surface. Place in the freezer overnight or for at least 4 hours before serving.

To serve: turn upside and remove the plastic wrap.  Serve with warm compote of mixed wild berries or chocolate atop!

Strawberries + Limoncello

 Fresh picked strawberries from the garden with homemade limoncello - a simple dessert that is sheer summer bliss!  This delicious dessert, perfect for a hot night, may have only two ingredients but if you want to make it from scratch you are going to need about 2 weeks.  You can always cheat and buy a fancy bottle of limoncello or limoncino but if you have a little patience you will be great rewarded! 

Strawberries macerated in limoncello - it couldn't get any easier than 1, 2, 3:

1. Clean and cut your strawberries
2. Drizzle atop limoncello, mix & let sit for about an hour
3. Serve with fresh whipped cream or mascarpone & mint and a glass of frozen homemade limoncello!

Grilled Peppers Stuffed with Tuna

Simply delicious. Ever since visiting a family-run seafood restaurant along the Adriatic we have been recreating this simple dish of roasted peppers and tuna.  Roasting gorgeous orange, yellow and red peppers over the grill and stuffing them with tuna, capers and herbs makes for a healthy flavorful appetizer/antipasti -the perfect way to start your summer dinner (especially if you already have the bbq fired up!)

Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Tuna
 Peperoni alla grilglia ripieni di tonno

Serves 6

4 Peppers (any color)
250 gram of highest quality of tuna you can find (in oil or water), drained
spoonful of capers, chopped
oregano, or any fresh herb of your choice (basil, marjoram, etc.)
salt & pepper (or red chili flakes)
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
clove of garlic

Start by charring the outside of your peppers - either on the stove or over the grill - until the outside is completely blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic, allow to cool.

When you can handle the peppers, remove the skin (should come right off) and remove the seeds. Slice the peppers into 3 cm strips.

To prepare the tuna filling, combine the tuna, capers, salt & pepper, a few drops of olive oil and vinegar.

At one end of the peppers add a spoonful of the tuna mix and roll the pepper around the tuna. Place in the dish, once the dish is full season with salt & cracked pepper.  Now make the dressing.

Two spoonfuls of red wine vinegar with six spoonfuls of olive oil, 1/2-1 clove of finely chopped garlic and small handful of chopped herbs. Mix it up and pour over the peppers in the dish. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes before serving to let the peppers soak up the dressing.

Note: You can add any thing you like to the tuna mix: spring onions, sun dried tomatoes, olives, etc.

Rustic Apple and Pine Nut Roll with White Wine & Olive Oil Dough

If you like to cook/bake with wine, olive oil & sambuca - this is the dessert for you!

A favorite dessert at our farmhouse is la rocciata - a rustic apple roll stuffed with pine nuts, walnuts, cinnamon & golden raisins. Don't me mislead - the translation (the rock) has little to do with the consistency of the dough (as it is actually very light & flaky) but more to do with the word for 'round' in dialect. It is very similar to a strudel (and may even originate from it)-but better!

La rocciata may be most well known as a dish from our neighbors in Umbria. (Here's a fun fact- if you look across the 'street' from our farmhouse there is literally an island of Umbria in our front yard & castle ruins from a thousand years ago!) And since we love to share the little known recipes of our area, we'll let it slide this isn't traditionally known as Marchigiano - because it's just so delicious & simple! (Don't let the long ingredient list turn you off - half of it you just toss into the food processor.)

To really enjoy this spicy flaky treat buy a bottle of nocino (walnut liquor) or vin santo (wine of the saints or holy wine) & dunk your pieces in this woody-smokey dessert wine.

La Rocciata
Rustic Apple Roll with Pine Nuts

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped (cut to about the same size as the raisins)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cut pine nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Sambuca, anisette or brandy
1 egg, beaten

Mix oil & wine in a bowl
Pulse the flour, sugar & salt in a food processor. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time. Pulse. Add butter. pulse until in tiny pieces.
With motor on, add oil & mix until dough forms.
Turn out dough & kneed for about 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little flour if needed.
Wrap in plastic & refrigerate for 1 hour
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit or 185 Celsius

Toss apples, nuts, sugar, raisins, spices & liquor in a bowl.
Divide dough into 4 equal pieces.
Roll dough between parchment to form 4 12x8 rectangles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Return the dough to a lightly floured surface. Spoon a cup of the apple filling onto each rectagnle in a thick stripe about 1/2 inch up from along the edge. Roll up the pastry to enclose the filling, pressing the seams to seal. Transfer the rolls to a large cookie sheet, seam sides down & brush the tops with the beaten egg.
Bake until golden brown - about 35 - 40 minutes.
Serve warm & cut in half or into chunks.

Lavender + Orange Cake = Love at First Bite

The perfect balance of orange & lavender makes for an absolutely heavenly cake that it is quick & easy to make!

Each year I add a few more lavender plants around the pool but never really knew what to do with the fragrant flowers. Sure, I dried them & placed them in the guest apartments but to be honest I was afraid to cook with them at risk of making a lovely dessert taste soapy! Well this year I was determined to try - Jason made the first attempt with lavender short bread cookies - they were amazing & eaten in one sitting. I was inspired and my taste buds were salivating for more... The perfect opportunity arose when a we found ourselves with extra yogurt in the fridge and I thought -great, I'll make a lavender yogurt cake. I actually made two - orange & lavender cake and rosemary cake with lavender glaze and they are both to die for! 

The perfect balance of orange & lavender makes for an absolutely heavenly cake that it is quick & easy to make!

Lavender & Orange Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (single-serving container) of plain yogurt
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
3 eggs
1/2 a tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lavender, chopped finely
1 tablespoon orange zest, chopped finely


Method:
Preheat your oven to 425°F and get a 9" round cake pan or 8"x4" loaf pan ready by generously buttering it.
1. Combine all your ingredients.
2. Mix with a wire whisk until you get a smooth batter (careful not to over mix), then pour into your pan.
3. Bake for 30 minutes. 

Profiteroles & Chantilly Cream

 

Jason made these years before in cooking school at The French Culinary Institute (called choux à la crème) but I wanted to find an Italian version. So I emailed our friends Paola and Antonio the owners of our favorite artisan gelateria, Maki and asked them for their favorite profiterole recipe. Anything dessert related especially if chocolate is involved they are our favorite place to turn. Below is the recipe Antonio learned while taking a cooking courses at La Cucina Italiana as well as the "Profiterole Pyramid" topped with a healthy helping of chocolate cream!! 

Profiteroles - Cream Puffs - Choux à la Crème

makes 50
250 ml water
150 gr flour, sifted
100 gr butter
4 eggs (both yolk and white)
salt/sugar: just a pinch

Bring the water, together with the butter, the salt and a pinch of sugar, to the boil.

Add the flour and mix well keeping the pan on the fire for just a couple of minutes, until the mixture is well amalgamated and it comes off the sides of the pan.

Let it cool down a little before adding the eggs, one at a time: mix well the egg before adding the following one.

Put the mixture into a sac a poche or pastry bag and place the profiterole or 'choux' (they should be as big as a walnut) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes at 180/200° C until they puff up and get a nice golden color.

Tip:  Antonio would reduce the amount of butter (20gr less) should he need to fry the profiterol (he would also add a pinch of baking soda) while the above recipe is good if you want to cook them in the oven.


Filling: ( You can also fill with custard cream or even whipped cream)

284 ml/10fl oz whipping cream
1 vanilla pod
powdered sugar (icing sugar) to taste


Place the cream into a bowl. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the cream.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add icing sugar, to taste, and mix in gently.

Topping: Since we asked chocolate makers for their recipe, of course they top their profiteroles with a healthy drizzle of chocolate sauce.

500 ml milk
5 egg yolks
150 gr sugar
35-40 gr corn flour, sifted
250 gr dark chocolate
250 ml cream

Bring the milk to the boil then add the chocolate.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar and egg yolks. Then add the flour, mix and finally add the end the hot milk/chocolate

Cook the mixture very gently for a couple of minutes just until it starts boiling. Remove from heat and add the cream.

Tip: If you want the classic profiterole pyramid, just dip them into the chocolate sauce (after you've filled them with cream) and place them on a plate and decorate.

Enjoy!

photo: Food&Wine

Thanks Paola and Antonio for sharing this recipe!!

Autumn's Apple Harvest: Apple Cinnamon Cake

 

I love fall's crisp cool nights, sweater weather & endless cups of tea. Along our property we collect crates of wild apples to make sweet desserts & compotes. Apple cinnamon cake is a easy & tasty way to enjoy Autumn's apple harvest - plus it's a perfect something to nibble on as you sip a warm cup of earl gray on a rainy afternoon.

 

This is Jason's Grandma's apple cake recipe - now, to set the record straight she was not Italian, but she did pass on this fantastic, no-fail, super moist apple cake recipe!

Grandma's Apple Cake 

Torta di Mele della Nonna

Ingredients: 

3 cups flour

1 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

5-6 apples, thinly sliced

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup orange juice

3 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except apples, beat until smooth.

In another bowl, mix sliced apples with cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

In  greased 10 inch tube pan, make layers of batter 1/3 at a time, then a layer of apples. (You should get 3 layers of apple) Ending with apples on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes until a pick comes out clean.

Poached Pears in Wine

A beautiful simple dessert absolutely perfect for a dinner party incorporating the flavors of fall. Use any red or rose you like or that bottle of wine that's been collecting dust in the back of your cupboard (you know the one) - it will work great in this classic dish! A gorgeous oven-free dessert. In the summer, we will use beautiful stone fruit instead of the pears. 

Cooking the wine and herbs down slowly will create a beautiful rich flavorful syrup.

Poached Pears in Red Wine

Serves 4
4 pears, peeled and left whole
1/4 cup sugar
1 bottle of wine - red or rose' - whichever you prefer or have in your cupboard
herbs you like: we use sprig of rosemary, sprig of thyme and lemon zest or you can use cinnamon, clove and nutmeg

Place pears in a pot that fits snugly. Add sugar and herbs to the pot with pears. Cover the pears 3/4 with wine.

Place the pot on the stove with the lid on and bring up to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Let simmer for 10-18 minutes depending on the size of your pears. You'll know when they are done when a knife slips easily in (just like when boiling potatoes).

Once cooked through remove the pears from the liquid & place in the fridge. Return the pot to the stove and reduce the wine, on a simmer for about 10-15 minutes until it forms a syrup. Be careful not to burn it by reducing too much.

About a minute or two before before the wine syrup is ready give it a taste checking to make sure its not too tart. You may need a little more sugar depending on the sweetness of the wine.

To serve, strain a ladle full of the syrup through a fine mesh strainer directly onto each plate. Top with your pear - either serve whole or sliced in half. Finish with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or mascarpone cream.

Cherries in Limoncello

Fresh picked cherries macerated in homemade limoncello, it doesn't get much better than that! A perfect combination of sweet & tart and to top it off with a spoonful of whipped cream!

Serves 4

 Pound of pitted cherries
3-4 leaves of mint, plus more for garnish
2-4 tablespoons of limoncello (depending on how boozy you like it)
white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Toss cherries with liquor in a bowl with a little sugar, if cherries are tart add more sugar, if cherries are already sweet you can omit the sugar. Refrigerate for an hour or two.

In a separate bowl whip the cream, chopped mint & a spoonful of sugar of two. Whipped cream should have just a hint of sweetness to it - not sugary.

Spoon cherries with syrup into a pretty serving dish or cup (we use a martini glass) and top with a couple spoon full of fresh whipped cream.  Garnish with fresh mint. Enjoy!

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Dark Chocolate Ganache

As the weather gets hotter, so does the kitchen making oven-free desserts ideal, try this no-fail creamy Panna Cotta with rich dark chocolate ganache! Panna Cotta literally translates to cooked cream in Italian and the recipe is just about as simple as the name.

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Dark Chocolate Ganache

serves 8
Ingredients for Panna Cotta
3 sheets of gelatin
scant 1/2 cup milk or 120 ml
2  cups or 500 ml heavy cream
1/2 cup or 60 g sugar
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise

Fill a bowl with water, add the gelatin and let is soak. Pour milk into a pan & bring to just below simmering, then remove the pan from the heat. Do NOT let it boil. Drain & squeeze out the gelatin & add it to the milk. Pour the cream into another pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Then remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla bean and stir in the milk mixture.

You can put the mixture into any kind of ramekin, mold, cup, you like. Rinse your 'glass' in ice-cold water, shaking out any excess water & fill with the milk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set (at least 3-4 hours). Turn out onto a serving dish & serve with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce.


Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache
4 oz or 100 g dark chocolate 72% or better

3/4 cup or 200 ml heavy cream

In a double boiler melt chocolate bar. Once the chocolate is completely melted, slowly whisk in cream until the desired consistancy is reached.

Drizzle over the top of the panna cotta once on the serving plate.

Lick-Your-Plate-Amazing Tiramisu

This is one recipe worth recreating, a rich & creamy classic, tiramisu!

 I am not a big fan of Tiramisu in the States, it can be a boozy, mushy mess and nothing I would ever want to order.  So when I was given a heaping plate for dessert at a friends house when we first arrived, I was a little nervous about how I was going to finish it all to be polite- well it didn't seem to be a problem at all because it was lick-your-plate amazing! So what's the difference in the dish served at restaurants State-side vs. that of Italy? First off the eggs - this recipe calls for fresh egg yolks not whipped cream or imitation eggs making it much richer and secondly it's all in the lady-fingers! When Jason first asked for a lady-finger recipe to make this dish, our friend Daniella balked - "No, why would you do that? You buy Pavisini."  And she was right! They perfectly hold up after being soaked in coffee & layered with cream.

 Tiramisu literally translates to "pick me up" and it sure does with all the coffee, eggs & sugar. Great for dessert and devilishly delicious for breakfast, what with coffee & eggs, why not?!
 We serve this every Thursday at our Pizza Night Parties and if there is any left-over for breakfast the next morning! (Not to mention it's one of the only dessert I make, so if I can do it - anyone can! 

Tiramisu

Serves 8
(use a 9x6 dish)
 4 egg whites
4 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups or 125 g confectioner's sugar
1 3/4 cups or 325 g mascarpone cheese
box of Pavisini ladyfingers
3/4 cup or 200 ml freshly brewed extra strong coffee or espresso, cooled/room temperature
3 oz. or 100 g dark chocolate, grated
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
 

Make your pot of coffee & let cool. 

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl until light, pale & "ribbons." Then mix in the mascarpone.
Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a different grease-free bowl.
Gently fold in the egg whites in thirds to the mascarpone mix.
Make a single layer of ladyfingers on the base of a deep serving dish making sure they fit tightly together on the bottom. Then brush the lady fingers evenly with coffee (don't be shy, a good two passes with the brush should be plenty).
Make a nice even layer of the mascarpone cream/egg mixture and sprinkle/cover with grated chocolate.
Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used (you should have 3 layers), finishing with a layer of mascarpone cream/egg mixture.
Dust with cocoa, wrap with plastic and chill in the fridge for about 3 hours. Enjoy!! 

Recipe Tips: 
1. Make sure your egg whites are stiff enough that you can turn the bowl upside & they don't move!
2. Booze it up - add your favorite Bailey's, Nocino, Kahlua - any coffee complimentary liqueur will go nicely in this, add it into the coffee after cooled.
3. It's all in the ladyfingers- we use  Pavesini - they are hard to find in the States but its worth a try. These ladyfingers give it the perfect texture & really soak up the coffee.