6. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, loosen it from the tube and sides of the pan with a knife blade, turn it over, unmolding it, and place it on a cooling rack until it comes to room temperature.
Ciambella—Grandmother’s Pastry Ring
MOST ITALIAN DESSERTS are purchased from the local pastry shop, but some are habitually baked at home, and each region has one or two that are its specialty. Ciambella is my native Romagna’s traditional home-baked cake, and as with other home-nurtured traditions, every household has its own version. Some use anise along with, or in place of, the lemon peel; others add white wine to the batter. Each is as “authentic” as the next. The one below is the recipe my grandmother used and like all tastes one grows up with, it is the one I like best.
At home, there seems to be no time of the day that is not appropriate for having a slice of ciambella. My mother, at ninety-seven, still has it every morning with her caffelatte, a big cup of weak espresso diluted with hot milk. The old farmers’ way is to dunk the cake at the end of the meal into a glass of sweet wine. In this, as in many other instances where Italian food and drink is concerned, the farmers’ way amply rewards emulation.
For 8 to 10 servings
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
4 cups unbleached flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2½ teaspoons cream of tartar, available in pharmacies as potassium bitartrate, and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda OR 3½ teaspoons baking powder
Salt
The peel of 1 lemon grated without digging into the white pith beneath
¼ cup lukewarm milk
2 eggs
A heavy baking sheet
Butter and flour for smearing and dusting the baking sheet
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Put the butter in a saucepan and melt it without getting it too hot.
3. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, melted butter, cream of tartar, bicarbonate, a tiny pinch of salt, grated lemon peel, and the lukewarm milk. Add 1 whole egg and the white of the second egg. Add the yolk of the second egg less 1 teaspoonful of it, which you will set aside for “painting” the ring later. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients, then turn them out onto a work surface and knead the mixture for a few minutes.
4. Shape the dough into a large sausage roll about 2 inches thick, and make it into a ring. Pinch the ends together to close the ring. Brush the surface with the teaspoonful of yolk you have set aside and 1 teaspoon water, and score with a few shallow diagonal cuts.
5. Smear the baking sheet with butter, sprinkle it with flour, then turn it over and give it a rap on the counter to shake off excess flour. Put the ring in its center and place the sheet in the upper level of the preheated oven. Bake for 35 minutes. It should rise to nearly double its original size. Transfer to a cooling rack. When cold, wrap in foil or store in a tin biscuit box, but do not refrigerate. It tastes best served the following day.
Brutti Ma Buoni—Piedmontese Almond Cookies
55 to 60 cookies
11 ounces almonds, blanched and skinned, as described
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 egg whites
Salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Butter for smearing the cookie sheet
1. At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 300°.
2. If using a food processor, pulverize the peeled almonds together with the sugar, turning the processor on and off.
If using a knife, chop the almonds very fine by themselves, preferably while they are still warm, then combine them with the sugar.
3. Whip the egg whites in a bowl together with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks.
4. Fold the egg whites into the almond and sugar mixture together with the vanilla extract.
5. Smear a baking sheet or shallow pan with butter. Scoop up some of the cookie batter with a tablespoon, and use another spoon to push it off onto the baking sheet or pan. Keep the mounds of batter about 1½ inches apart. Don’t worry if they seem shapeless: Their Italian name means ugly, but good; they are expected to be very irregular.
6. Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Spread them out on a cooling rack. These cookies keep for a very long time if stored in a tin biscuit box.
Calabresi—Almond and Lemon Cookies
About 4 dozen cookies
4 ounces almonds, blanched and skinned, as described
½ cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
2 heaping cups unbleached flour
Salt
The peel of 1 lemon grated without digging into the white pith beneath
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Butter for smearing the cookie sheet or pan
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water
A pastry brush
1. At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°.
2. If using a food processor, pulverize the peeled almonds together with the sugar, turning the processor on and off.
If using a knife, chop the almonds very fine by themselves, preferably while they are still warm, then combine with the sugar.
3. If using the food processor, add the 2 egg yolks, the flour, a pinch of salt, the grated lemon peel, and the lemon juice. Run the steel blade until the batter forms a smooth lump.
If doing it by hand, put the almond and sugar mixture into a bowl, and add the ingredients as above. Work the batter with your hands for 8 to 10 minutes, until the ingredients are smoothly amalgamated.
4. Smear a cookie sheet or shallow pan with butter.
5. Lightly flour a work surface, a rolling pin, and your hands. Pull a piece the size of an apple from the batter, and roll it out to a thickness of ¼ inch. Use a 2-inch cookie cutter, or a glass of similar diameter, to cut the dough into disks, and place the disks not quite edge to edge on the baking sheet or pan. Knead dough scraps together, roll out, and cut into more disks.
6. When you have rolled out and cut all the dough, brush all the disks on top with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the preheated oven.
7. When done, transfer to a cooling rack. Once cold, store in a biscuit box or cookie jar, where they will keep well for weeks.
Gallette—Salt and Pepper Biscuits
THESE are excellent apéritif cookies.
3½ dozen biscuits
2 extra-large eggs
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ cups unbleached flour
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper ground coarse
2½ teaspoons baking powder
Butter for greasing the pan
A pastry brush
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Beat the eggs lightly and pour all but ½ tablespoon—which you will set aside for brushing the biscuits later—into a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Turn the batter out onto a lightly floured work surface, dust your hands with flour, and work it for a few minutes into a smooth, compact mass. If you prefer, you can execute the entire step with the food processor. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and set it aside to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
3. Divide the dough in two. Dust a work surface and a rolling pin with flour, and flatten the dough, one piece at a time, to a thickness of no more than ¼ inch. Use a 2-inch cookie cutter, or a glass of comparable diameter, to cut the dough into disks. Keep the trimmings.
4. Smear a baking sheet or pan with butter, and place the rounds of dough on it, keeping them about 1½ inches apart.
5. Briefly knead the trimmings into a ball, roll it out, and cut it into disks to be added to the others.
6. Brush the top of all the disks with egg, then put the sheet or pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 12 minutes.
7. Remove the biscuits from the pan, and let them cool completely
on a rack. They will be even tastier a day later.
Crema—Italian Custard Cream
Crema, or crema pasticcera to use its full name, is the basic custard used as a filling in many Italian desserts, most famously, perhaps, in zuppa inglese. It is not difficult to do, if you are a patient cook. It must not boil, yet the flour must be given sufficient heat and time to dissolve without leaving any trace of graininess. When the custard is lumpy or has a doughy flavor, it means the flour has either been cooked too hurriedly or not thoroughly enough or a combination of both causes.
You can make crema directly over the flame in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, but if you are concerned about how to keep the heat under control, use a double boiler, making sure that the water in the lower half stays at a brisk boil.
About 2½ cups
4 egg yolks
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk
The peel of ½ lemon grated without digging into the white pith beneath
1. Put the egg yolks and sugar into a heavy-bottomed saucepan or in the top of a double boiler. Off heat, beat the yolks until they become pale yellow and creamy. Add the flour gradually, beating it in 1 tablespoon at a time.
2. In another saucepan bring all the milk just to the brink of a boil, when the edge begins to be ringed with little bubbles.
3. Always off heat, add the hot milk very slowly to the beaten egg yolks, stirring the entire time to avoid the formation of lumps.
4. Put the saucepan over low heat, or over the bottom part of the double boiler in which the water has been brought to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring steadfastly with a wooden spoon. Do not let the cream come to a boil, but it’s all right for an occasional bubble to break the surface. The custard cream is done when it clings to the spoon, coating it with medium density.
5. Remove from heat, place the pan with the cream into a bowl with ice water, and stir for a few minutes. Mix in the grated lemon peel, and stir a while longer until the cream cools off.
Ahead-of-time note You can make the cream a day or two in advance, if necessary. Transfer to a steel or ceramic container, press plastic wrap against the surface of the cream, and refrigerate.
Zuppa Inglese
IF THERE IS a wholly convincing explanation of why the dessert is described as inglese, English, I have never come across it, but there is no doubt why it is called a soup: It is so steeped in custard that it resembles the bread soaking in peasant soups. And like soup, it should be eaten with a spoon.
The version given here is based on the dense zuppa inglese we make in Emilia-Romagna. There the cordial used to dampen the sponge cake is alchermes mixed with rum. Alchermes, a vaguely spicy liqueur with a flowery scent, derived its red color from the bodies of dried cochineal bugs in which it was steeped. I am told it’s no longer made that way, but it is, in any event, unavailable outside Italy, so we all must look for substitutes that please us. My combination of cordials is given below, but as long as you don’t omit the rum, which is essential to the character of the dessert, you can devise your own formula.
Do, however, have the spirits mixture ready and the pound cake cut before you make the custard cream so you can use the latter the moment it’s done.
For 6 servings
The custard cream made with this recipe
A 10-ounce pound cake, sliced ¼ inch thick
A pastry brush
1 tablespoon rum mixed with 2 tablespoons Cognac, 2 tablespoons Drambuie, and 4 tablespoons Cherry Heering
2 ounces semisweet chocolate squares, chopped up
A double boiler
OPTIONAL TOPPING: 1 ounce chopped toasted almonds
1. Choose a deep dish or a bowl from which you will be serving the zuppa. Smear the bottom of the dish with 4 to 5 tablespoons of hot custard cream.
2. Line the bottom of the dish with a layer of pound cake slices set edge to edge. Dip a pastry brush into the liqueur mixture and saturate the cake with it. Top with one-third the remaining custard cream. Cover with another layer of sliced cake, and brush it with half the remaining liqueur mixture.
3. Bring water to a simmer in the lower part of a double boiler. In the top of the double boiler put the 2 ounces of chopped chocolate. When the chocolate has melted, divide the remaining custard cream into two parts, mix the melted chocolate with one part, and spread it over the layer of pound cake in the dish.
4. Add another layer of cake slices to the zuppa, soak it with the remaining liqueurs, and cover with the last of the custard cream. Top with the optional toasted almonds.
5. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours, and up to a day in advance. Serve chilled.
Sandro Fioriti’s Variation
Sandro’s in New York is where I go when, after I’ve been on the road a while, I am overcome by desire for the unaffected flavors of an Italian home kitchen. Before covering the zuppa with the last of the custard cream, spread 3 tablespoons of sour cherry preserves—imported Italian amarene preserve, if you can find it, or English morello, or other sour cherry—over the uppermost layer of pound cake, then cover with the custard cream. Omit the chopped almonds.
Zabaglione
THE WARM, wine-scented froth we call zabaglione may be the only dish made of whipped egg yolks. I don’t know of another. Because egg yolks harden quickly over strong heat, it is easier to make zabaglione off direct heat in a double boiler, as in the instructions that follow. If, however, you know how to control this kind of cooking, you can do it directly over the flame, possibly using the traditional, round-bottomed, unlined copper zabaglione pot.
For 6 servings
4 egg yolks
¼ cup granulated sugar
A double boiler
½ cup dry Marsala wine
Note The egg yolk mixture increases considerably in volume as you beat it and cook it. If your double boiler is not a large one, you’d be better off improvising one by putting one good-size pot into a larger one that contains simmering water. There are trivets made especially to support the inner pot (a useful gadget to own), but you can use any small metal trivet for the purpose.
1. Put the egg yolks and sugar in the top of the double boiler, or in the inner pot as described above, and whip the yolks with a whisk, or electric mixer, until they are pale yellow and creamy.
2. In the bottom of the double boiler, or in the larger pot, bring water to the brink of a simmer.
3. Fit the two double-boiler pans together, or place the smaller pot with the yolks inside the one with the water. Add the Marsala, beating constantly. The mixture will begin to foam, then swell into a soft, frothy mass. The zabaglione is ready in 15 minutes or less, when it has formed soft mounds.
Zabaglione is usually served warm, either spooned into glass cups on its own, or over sliced ripe fruit, such as peaches or mango, or with plain cakes. It is delicious with the Ciambella. A cold version of zabaglione made with red wine follows.
Cold Zabaglione with Red Wine
Use the ingredients of the basic recipe above, substituting 1 cup dry red wine for the ½ cup Marsala. Ideally, the red wine should be Barolo; it would be almost as ideal if it were Barbaresco, but you could substitute other reds with full flavor, such as a Tuscan all-Sangiovese, a good Valpolicella, or even a California Zinfandel, or a Cote du Rhone.
Make the zabaglione following the instructions in the preceding recipe. Spoon it into individual serving cups and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours before serving.
Italian Chocolate Mousse
For 6 servings
A double boiler
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped fine
4 eggs (see warning about salmonella)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
¼ cup strong espresso coffee
2 tablespoons dark rum
A mixing bowl kept in the freezer
⅔ cup very cold heavy whipping cream
1. Put water in the bottom of the double boile
r, bring it to a gentle, but steady simmer, set the top of the double boiler over it, and put the chopped chocolate in to melt.
2. Separate the eggs, put the yolks in a bowl together with the sugar, and beat them until they become pale yellow and creamy. Add the melted chocolate, coffee, and rum, and mix them in with a spatula until the ingredients are uniformly combined.
3. Take the bowl out of the freezer, put in the cream, beat it with a whisk until it stiffens, then fold it into the chocolate and egg yolk mixture.
4. Put the egg whites into a bowl, whip them until they form stiff peaks, then fold them gently, but thoroughly into the chocolate mixture.
5. Spoon the mousse into 6 individual serving cups or goblets, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. It can be kept even 3 or 4 days, but after the first 24 hours it may wrinkle and lose some of its creamy consistency.
Ricotta and Coffee Cream
THIS INTRIGUINGLY good combination of ricotta, rum, and coffee may be the easiest dessert I have ever learned to make. It can all be done in less than 3 seconds in the food processor or, for a firmer consistency, by beating the mixture with 2 forks held in one hand. Please note that the cream needs to set in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
For 6 servings
1½ pounds fresh ricotta
⅔ cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons dark rum
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons very strong espresso coffee
Garnish: 36 espresso coffee beans
1. Put the ricotta, sugar, rum, and coffee into the food processor and process to a creamy consistency.
2. Pour the mixture into 6 individual glass dessert coupes, and store in the refrigerator overnight.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking Page 66