by Marc Vetri
For the semifreddo: Put the chocolate in a small metal bowl or the top of a double boiler. Set over gently simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep warm.
Meanwhile, put the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on medium-high speed until the mixture runs off the whip attachment in thick ribbons when lifted, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl.
In a clean mixer bowl and using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they form firm peaks when the whisk is lifted, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape into another bowl and set aside.
Whip the cream in the same mixer bowl on medium speed until it forms soft peaks when the whip is lifted, 1 to 2 minutes. Mix in the cocoa powder on low speed until incorporated.
Scrape the melted chocolate into the yolk mixture and fold until incorporated. Alternately fold in the whipped cream and egg whites with a rubber spatula, folding gently to avoid deflating everything. Fold in the chopped hazelnuts.
Spoon the mixture into six 3- to 4-ounce silicone hemisphere molds until each mold is half full. Freeze until semifirm, at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes (put the remaining mixture into the refrigerator to keep it cold). Place 3 cherries on top of each semifirm mixture, then spoon enough of the remaining semifreddo over the top to cover the cherries and fill the mold leveling the tops. Cover and freeze for at least for 30 minutes or up to 1 week. Freeze the remaining semifreddo in an airtight container for up to 4 months. Enjoy at will.
For the chocolate cake: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together into a small bowl. Put the sugar, oil, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until light and lemon-colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the dry ingredients on low speed in 3 additions, alternately with the cream and milk, mixing well between each addition.
Preheat the oven to 390°F. Coat a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Spray the parchment.
Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth to an even depth of ½ inch. Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 65 to 75 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack. When cool, run a stiff rubber spatula around the perimeter of the cake and turn out onto the rack to cool completely.
For the chocolate shell: Put the chocolate and oil in small metal bowl or the top of a double boiler. Set over gently simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep warm.
To assemble: Use 2- to 3-inch round cookie cutters (the same diameter as the molds) to punch out 6 circles of the cooled chocolate cake (eat the scraps of the cake or save for another purpose). If necessary, use a serrated knife to trim the rounds and make them sit flat. Just before serving, put the cake rounds on a wire rack set over parchment or waxed paper. Unmold the hemispheres of semifreddo and invert one over each cake to make a dome. Gradually pour the chocolate shell mixture over the top of each dome until completely covered. Let set for 30 seconds, then serve immediately.
PREP AHEAD
Both the semifreddo and the cake can be made ahead, so you can assemble the tartufo just before serving. Freeze the semifreddo in the molds up to 1 week ahead of time and let them soften for a few minutes before assembling. Bake the cake and cut out the cake rounds up to 3 days ahead, keeping the rounds covered in the refrigerator.
BEVERAGE—Santa Sofia, Recioto 2005 (Veneto): Amarone’s best-kept secret is the sweet wine that actually preceded it: Recioto. You see, Recioto is the sweeter precursor to drier, more bitter Amarone. With Recioto, you get every flavor in this dessert in liquid form: chocolaty, liqueured fruit notes of cherries in syrup, and dried black mission figs built into a hedonistic, viscous red wine.
Chocolate Zabaione TART
Here is the most elegant dessert in the book. It’s a soft and sweet almond tart crust with a dark layer of rich chocolate filling on the bottom and a light layer of creamy zabaione on top. Decorated with a few fresh raspberries, it is simply stunning.
MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS
ALMOND FLOUR TART DOUGH
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1¼ cups tipo 00 or all-purpose flour
¾ cup almond flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
CHOCOLATE FILLING
⅔ cup heavy cream
¼ cup whole milk
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably 58 percent cocoa, chopped
1 egg
CHOCOLATE ZABAIONE
¾ teaspoon powdered plain gelatin
1½ teaspoons cold water
4 egg yolks
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup chocolate liqueur, such as Godiva
½ cup heavy cream
Fresh raspberries, for garnish
For the dough: Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the egg, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
Combine the tipo 00 flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and stir with a whisk to blend. Add to the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, form into a ball, and flatten it slightly. Wrap in the plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. The almond flour gives the dough a very delicate texture. It helps to stick your hands in a bowl of ice for a couple of minutes to get them cold so they don’t melt the butter when you handle the dough. With cold hands, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch-diameter round. Fold the dough over the rolling pin and transfer it to a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Unfold the dough and fit it into the pan without stretching the dough. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the pan to trim the excess dough. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans or weights and parchment and bake until very lightly browned, another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
For the filling: Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. Bring the cream and milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk until melted. Whisk in the egg. Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. It will be mostly but not completely set. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the zabaione: Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl and let stand until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a small metal bowl or the top of a double boiler. Set over gently simmering water and whisk in the chocolate liqueur, whisking constantly until the mixture reaches 160°F. Remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin. Cool the mixture by dipping the bottom of the pan into a bowl of ice water.
Using a mixer or whisk, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the zabaione mixture with a rubber spatula, then spread over the cooled tart and smooth the top. Refrigerate until set. Garnish the tart with raspberries.
PREP AHEAD
The dough can be made up to 1 day ahead and kept refrigerated in the plastic. You can also bake the crust as directed, let it cool, then keep it at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours before assembling. Or, make the entire tart and store it, covered, for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Garnish with the berries just before serving.
BEVERAGE—Elio Perrone, Bigaro 2008 (Piedmont): This wine has the best of both worlds: 50 percent Moscato brings pear aromas and syrupy sweetness, and 50 percent Brachetto delivers a slightly acidic fresh berry fruit. As a sparkling dessert wine, it refreshes everything on the plate.
SAUCES AND
OTHER BASICS
Hand-Crushed Marinara Sauce
Pizza Sauce
; Tomato Conserva
Porcini Béchamel
Pistachio Pesto
Garlic Chive Oil
Celery Root Puree
Gremolata
Saffron Puree
Corn Crema
Horseradish Crème Fraîche
Lemon Vinaigrette
Rosemary-Garlic Brine
Candied Hazelnuts
Chocolate Sauce
Candied Citrus Peel
A FEW SUMMERS AGO, I had a corn flan with Corn Crema on the menu at Vetri, and one of my cooks had prepared it on a Friday night. During service, someone sent the flan back because he said it didn’t taste much like corn. So I tasted the flan and thought, well, he’s absolutely right. I asked the cook who made it. “Did you taste the corn?” He replied, “Yes, chef, I did.” I asked, “What did it taste like?” He said, “Well, it was yellow and had a light corn flavor.” I thought to myself—it tasted yellow? I asked the cook to get some of the raw corn so we could both taste it. I bit into an ear, he bit into an ear, and I asked him what it tasted like. “Not much of anything,” he said. “Exactly!” I replied. So I pushed, “Why would you make a corn flan with corn that doesn’t taste like much of anything?” He replied, “Well, that’s what came in today.” So I reminded him of the first rule of cooking: Taste everything you cook with.
It’s always the basics that cooks miss. When new cooks come to train with me, I ask them to make a spaghetti with tomato sauce. Or cook a burger medium-rare. Blanch a carrot. Make a potato puree. Cook dried beans. Or taste this corn and tell me if it is good or bad. I start with the fundamentals. Thankfully, cooks are starting to get reenergized about basic things, like how to butcher animals, bake great bread, pickle vegetables, and make sauces.
These are the skills that I am constantly trying to perfect. The more I cook, the more I realize that a chef should not shy away from mundane things like making a lemon vinaigrette. A chef should take pleasure in them. A chef loves to pick up a ripe piece of fruit and smell it. Whenever I find perfectly ripe peaches, I grab one and let its gentle fuzz caress my nose, then I bite into the fruit until its flesh gives way and its juices dribble down my chin. What you have to realize is that, along with sleep, sex, breathing, and water, food is one of the most elemental requirements of our daily lives. And like those other needs, food should be appreciated, respected, and, above all, enjoyed on a very basic level.
If you like to cook, don’t shy away from the basics, like making Garlic Chive Oil or Chocolate Sauce. Embrace them. These fundamentals are the very core of cooking and should capture your imagination for your entire life.
HAND-CRUSHED MARINARA SAUCE
This is the old-, old-, old-school way to make tomato sauce. You want those big hunks of tomatoes in there. And there’s no other way to get them than to crush the tomatoes with your hands.
MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS
1 (16-ounce) can peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Crush the tomatoes by hand into a bowl, then mix in everything else.
Pizza Sauce
PIZZA SAUCE
The most important thing about pizza is your ingredients. When you’re making something so simple, each ingredient has to be super flavorful. This sauce is just tomatoes, olive oil, and basil. The tomatoes have to be completely delicious. If they’re not, the sauce is not going to work. I use La Valle canned San Marzano tomatoes. Avoid brands that say “in the style of San Marzano.” That basically means the tomatoes are a fake.
MAKES ABOUT 2 ½ CUPS
1 (16-ounce) can peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ bunch fresh basil
Puree everything with an immersion or upright blender. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
PREP AHEAD
You can refrigerate the sauce in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
TOMATO CONSERVA
Try this recipe in late summer when heirloom tomatoes are so plentiful they are falling off the farmers’ market stands. Oven-drying them concentrates the flavor and makes them taste even richer.
MAKES ABOUT 2¼ CUPS
3 meaty heirloom tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ clove garlic, smashed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the tomatoes, oil, and garlic in a 2- to 3-quart baking dish and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put it in the oven and turn off the heat. Leave the dish in the oven overnight or for at least 8 hours.
PREP AHEAD
You can leave the finished conserva at room temperature for up to 6 hours. Or refrigerate it in an airtight container for up 1 day and return it to room temperature before using.
PORCINI BÉCHAMEL
I have been messing around with different flavors of béchamels for years. The porcini gives this one a woodsy flavor that I can’t get enough of. I use this sauce in all kinds of lasagnas and baked pastas in the fall.
MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS
⅔ cup (1 ounce) dried porcini mushrooms
1⅓ cups hot water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
⅓ cup finely chopped onion
6½ tablespoons tipo 00 or all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Soak the mushrooms in the hot water in a bowl for 15 minutes.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux and cook for 5 to 6 minutes to cook out the starchy taste, stirring now and then. Gradually whisk in the cold milk. Pluck the mushrooms from the water, squeeze their liquid into the bowl, and set them aside. Pour the soaking water into the roux, leaving any sediment at the bottom of the bowl. Finely chop the mushrooms and stir into the sauce.
Reduce the heat to low and cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed.
PREP AHEAD
Make the béchamel up to 8 hours in advance and reheat it over low heat before using.
PISTACHIO PESTO
This isn’t your ordinary basil pesto. There’s no Parmesan, no garlic, and no herbs. Pistachios are the star. Drizzle it on pizza, pastas, and bread for sandwiches, or use it in Mortadella Tortelli.
MAKES ABOUT 2½ CUPS
2 cups shelled pistachio nuts
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons aged sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Put the nuts in a food processor and chop until fine. Add the oil and vinegar and process to a coarse paste. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
PREP AHEAD
Refrigerate the pesto in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or freeze it for up to 2 months.
GARLIC CHIVE OIL
If you don’t have garlic chives, use regular chives plus a little minced garlic.
MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP
¼ cup packed fresh garlic chives
¼ cup packed fresh chives
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Buzz the garlic chives, chives, and oil in a small food processor or blender until smooth.
PREP AHEAD
Keep the oil at room temperature for up to 8 hours or refrigerate it for up to 2 days and return it to room temperature before using.
CELERY ROOT PUREE
Here’s a little play on potato puree. Celery root lightens the usual mashed potatoes and gives them the savory flavor of celery without the fibrous strings. I like to serve this with Grilled Beef Cheeks.
MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS
2 small celery roots
2 small russet (Idaho) potatoes
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Peel and coarsely chop the celery roots and potatoes. Put both in a pot with enough cold water to cover. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Strain out the liquid, then stir the butter into the vegetables. In batches, transfer the celery root and potatoes to a ricer, and push the mixture through. If you don’t have a ricer, use a potato masher. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
PREP AHEAD
Make the puree up to 1 day in advance, refrigerate it in an airtight container, and gently warm it over low heat before using.
GREMOLATA
You could put this on almost any roasted or grilled meat or fish to add some color and flavor. It’s perfect on Grilled Beef Cheeks.
MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP
½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, chopped
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil
Mix together the parsley, garlic, and lemon zest on a cutting board and chop until the parsley and garlic are minced and the ingredients are happy together. Put the gremolata in a small container and stir in a small amount of oil to keep the mixture moist. The gremolata should be crumbly, not like a paste.
PREP AHEAD
You can make the gremolata up to 1 day ahead and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
SAFFRON PUREE
You can puree almost anything and flavor it however you like. This puree has potatoes at its base, but the spuds are transformed by the rich orange color and haunting aroma of saffron. It looks and tastes good on the plate. Try it with Braised Monkfish.