Tiramisu

This dessert is one of my all-time favorites. My friend told me this recipe makes Tiramisu that is better than any Tiramisu she tasted while visiting Italy! The recipe written here is very similar to the Joy of Baking.com Tiramisu recipe, the only difference is I added whipping cream as an additional layer to the cake and reduced the amount of rum in the coffee mixture since I found the rum taste overpowering. 

Ingredients:

Cream Filling:

2 cups (480 ml) milk, divided

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar, divided

1/4 cup (35 grams) all purpose flour

6 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (60 ml) Marsala or dark rum

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 ounces (1 cup) (227 grams) mascarpone cheese, room temperature

Whipping cream 

I use a small cartoon.

Ladyfingers:

28-32 crisp ladyfingers

Coffee Soaking Syrup:

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) very strong brewed coffee or espresso

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

1/8 cup (60 ml) dark rum or Marsala

Topping:

Cocoa Powder for Garnishing 
1 ounce (30 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, grated or chopped. * For an even nicer look, run a vegetable peeler down the edge of chocolate bar. 

Fresh Raspberries (optional)

Instructions: 

Cream Topping: Put 1 3/4 cups (420 ml) milk and 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar in a medium sized saucepan. Place over medium heat, and bring this mixture just to boiling, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk, 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar, flour, and egg yolks. When the milk comes to a boil, gradually whisk it into the egg yolk mixture. Transfer this mixture into a clean large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. When it boils, continue to stir for another minute or two or until it thickens. Remove from heat and strain into a large bowl. (This will remove any lumps that may have formed.) Whisk in the Marsala (or rum), vanilla extract, and butter. Immediately cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Refrigerate until thick and cold, at least two hours.

Once the custard has cooled sufficiently, remove from the refrigerator. In a separate bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat the mascarpone cheese until it is soft and smooth. Gently fold, or whisk, the cold custard into the mascarpone until smooth.

Coffee Soaking Syrup: In a large shallow bowl combine the coffee (espresso), sugar, and Marsala (rum). Taste and add more sugar if you like.

To Assemble: Line a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap extends over the sides of the loaf pan. 

Have ready the ladyfingers, coffee mixture, and cream filling.

Working with one ladyfinger at a time, dip 7-8 ladyfingers in the coffee mixture and place them, side by side, in a single layer onto the bottom of the loaf pan. Spoon 1/3 of the cream filling over the ladyfingers, making sure they are completely covered. Then add a layer of whipping cream. Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers by dipping another 7-8 ladyfingers in the coffee mixture and placing them on top of the cream. Add another layer of whipping cream if you like. Again, cover the ladyfingers with cream and repeat with another layer of ladyfingers, cream, and ladyfingers. Cover the Tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. 

To Serve: Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the tiramisu. Gently invert the Tiramisu from the loaf pan onto your serving plate and remove the plastic wrap. Sift cocoa powder and/or grated chocolate over the top of the Tiramisu and decorate with fresh raspberries.

Makes 8 - 10 servings. Preparation time 30 minutes.

Hazelnut Custard Ice Cream

My mum borrowed her friend Dora's ice cream maker. This recipe is a combination of a few recipes I found in the recipe booklet that came with the ice cream maker and from the hazelnut gelato recipe at Epicurious.com.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole milk
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
4/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts  (*Extra delicious if roasted: bake in oven at 350 degrees, stirring every 5 minutes for 20 minutes or until you can smell their fragrance. Be careful not to burn!)
** Try to buy hazelnuts without the skin because it can be time consuming and difficult to remove them.

Directions

(1) Roast hazelnuts and rub off any skins in a kitchen towel, then cool completely.

Pulse with 1 tbls sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor until finely chopped.

Transfer to a heavy saucepan and add heavy cream. Bring just to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and let steep, covered, 1 hour.

(2) In a medium sized sauce pan heat milk until scum forms on top and milk bubbles on edges.

With a fork mix sugar and egg yolks.

Slowly pour 1/2 of milk into egg mixture, stirring constantly. Pour mixture into a different sauce pan, add remaining milk, blend well.

Stir constantly, cooking about 5 minutes or until mixture coats spoon and thickens slightly. Don't let it boil (make sure the temperature does not go beyond 175 degree F. Custard can burn easily (I learned this the hard way:( Immediately pour custard through cleaned sieve into a metal bowl, then set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool, stirring occasionally. Chill custard, covered, until cold.

(3) Blend hazelnut mixture with custard. Place in ice cream maker and follow instructions.

Ice Cream maker instructions:

(1) Place chill chamber in freezer overnight.
(2) Pour in your ice cream ingredients
(3) Turn a few times to "churn". After churning about 5-8 minutes ice cream is ready!  Transfer to a separate container for harder ice cream and to store for later.

Optional topping: Nut Fudge Sauce

2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 oz (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate
2/4 cup cream
1 t. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix together in sauce pan the sugar, brown sugar, chocolate, cream, and butter. Cook over medium heat until the mixture crinkles around the edge of the sauce pan. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and chopped nuts. Serve at once.

My brother and I about to have some ice cream:)

Angelo Tosi's Heritage Italian Grocery Store

 Today I went to Tosi Italian Food Importers, an Italian grocery store owned by a man named Angelo Tosi. It is quite the place! The business was started by Angelo's father and has been in the family for 111 years.  The two-story building housing the store is in the heart of Chinatown and is the only remaining structure of the original Woodwards store. According to Angelo's store website, in the past the area had many Italian shops, however, between 1930-1960 the Portuguese and Chinese arrived and bought most of the houses in the area. As Chinatown began to grow, Angelo remembers it being extraordinarily beautiful, and recalls such things as people smoking water pipes amongst all of the fresh produce they were selling.

I'm really glad I had a chance to meet Angelo and see the store since the business may not be in operation for too much longer. The Vancouver city council is considering rezoning parts of Chinatown for highrises, and Angelo's store is in the middle of one of the blocks likely to be redeveloped.

Angelo is 79 years old and his father worked for the business until he died at the age of 85. Angelo told me that he eats a tablespoon of lecithin every day and adds dandelions to his salads to keep the blood in his veins flowing quickly. He also told me I was going to make love to the olive oil I bought from him when I put it on salad and that his canned tomatoes are so good that if I'm a good cook the second I open them I'll be able to smell how delicious they are. He gave me a sample of his yummy organic parmesan cheese and I also bought some of his bulk olives and a chunk of salami prosciutto for Cole to try. I'm looking forward to eating well this weekend:)

The Vancouver Sun published an article about Angelo and his business in April, 2011:

 http://www.vancouversun.com/Tosi+Chinatown+heritage+classic+classic/4585795/story.html#ixzz1VWUq34XR

The things I bought! The boxes at the back are risotto. the darker box is the higher quality of the two. I love the balsamic vinegar bottle. Planning to make hazelnut gelato with the hazelnuts. Everything was very reasonably priced, I spent less than $50 for everything here.

Let's Cook Italian

This past March I took an Italian cooking class at the the Italian Cultural Centre in East Vancouver. I am finally getting around to recording a few of the recipes and posting some of the pictures one of my classmates took. I definitely recommend the class! My favorite day was when we made pane, pizza Napoletana e focacce liguri (bread, Neopolitan pizza and focacia bread from Liguria). I've copied our Italian teacher's copy of the recipes to give a sense of the traditional way of recording and preparing Italian food as we learned it in the course.

White bread

15 gr. of salt
2/3 spoons olive oil
25 gr. fresh yeast (Using fresh yeast really adds to the taste!)
500 gr flour
250 ml warm water
2 tsp of sugar

Bake at 400 degrees C.

Focacia and pizza dough

Same ingredients as above plus choice of rosemary, thin onion slices, minced olives, cherry tomatoes cut in half for focacia.


Pizza, tomato paste, capers, soft mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Melt yeast in the warm water. Add sugar. Dissolve salt in a separate glass with warm water. Sift the white flour, add other ingredients. Knead with strength. Make a nice smooth ball. Let it rest.
Remanipulate the dough. Stretch it with the rolling pin or by hand.

Some additional notes from our teacher:
*Dough should rest one hour
*Rest in a place that is warm and not airy
*Cover the dough while it is rising
*Use warm water

 

 

First day of class. Hand-made pasta with tomato and pesto sauce. One important lesson I learned- sometimes less is more! An important part of Italian cooking is using only a few high quality ingredients. For example, all that went in the tomato sauce was fresh tomatoes, garlic, fresh parsley and salt and pepper.

We made short-bread pie with berry jam and cake with lemon custard cream and pine nuts on the last day.

This appetizer was so simple yet completely delicious! Sliced oranges with high quality olive oil drizzled on top with a dash of salt and pepper.

Frijoles con Queso, Etc. Casserole

This recipe is from 'The Enchanted Broccoli Forest' by Mollie Katzen, the author of the Moosewood cookbooks. I found the beans a bit too cheesy and rich but Cole really like it.

Here is the recipe as it is written by Katzen.

This is  3-layer casserole and almost like a cobbler with spicy, cheesy beans on the bottom, vegetables in the middle, and a crusty cornbread topping. Soak your beans well in advance, and prepare other parts of the casserole as the beans cook. (1 1/2 hrs to prepare; 40 mins to bake)

1 1/2 cups raw pinto beans
4 oz (1/2) cup cream cheese
1 cup firm yogurt
1/2 cup backed mild white cheese
1 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 cups onion
2-3 large cloves crushed garlic
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried basil
lots of black pepper and cayenne
1 medium zucchini, in chunks
2 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
a few dashes each, salt, pepper, oregano, basil


(1) Soak the pintos in plenty of water for several hours (overnight is best). Cook them twice in as much water until tender (approx. 1 1/2 hrs). Drain, and immediately cut in the cream cheese, so it will melt nicely into the still-hot beans. Mix in yogurt and cheese. Set aside.

(2) YOU CAN DO THIS WHILE THE BEANS COOK. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil with 3/4 tsp. salt, the cumin, the 1/2 tsp basil, and the black and cayenne pepper...about 5-8 minutes. Add this saute to the bean/cheese mixture. Mix well, and transfer to a buttered, 2-quart, deep casserole.

(3) In the same skillet you used to saute the onions, etc. pan-fry the zucchini chunks (you don't need to add extra oil if you are careful) with a little salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Use medium heat, and stir constantly. Cook them for only about 3 minutes, then add the chopped tomato, turn the heat up a little and continue to stir and cook another 5 minutes. Spread this mixture on top of the beans.

CORNBREAD TOPPING

1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup yogurt
1 large egg

(1) Combine the 4 dry ingredients. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
(2) Beat together the yogurt and egg, and stir onto the dry mixture until well-mixed.
(3) Spread this batter on top of the zucchini/tomato layer of casserole.
Bake 40  minutes at 375 degrees F, uncovered. Serve immediately.

Cheesecake with Sour Cream and Honey Topping

Looks much nicer when the sides of the pan are taken off. The topping is nice because it hides the cracks cheesecakes often have.

This is my mum's recipe and the topping is a nice addition. I half the recipe if I am only making it for a few people.

* Makes 2 round 8" pans. Or one cake in a 10" springform pan.
Ingredients:

2 lbs cream cheese
1/2 lb butter
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs
vanilla
Graham crumbs

Fruit topping (optional)

Any berries cooked down with a bit of sugar and water. Instead of cornstarch as a thickener I just let the berries simmer for a while to get rid of some of the liquid. I used blueberries because they are in season and especially delicious right now! 

Topping:
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey or sugar

Mix 1/4 lb melter butter into graham crumbs, press in base (I just follow the graham crumb box directions for butter to graham crumb proportions).

Cream remaining butter, sugar, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla. Pour over 'crumbs'. Cook at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. Then add topping and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Chill and serve with fruit topping.

Strawberry Mousse

I made this recipe the night before we went to Saturna and we ate it out on the deck.

This recipe is from Cole's stepmum, Gill, and it is now one of my favorite desserts! It comes from one of her South African cookbooks, "Cooking with Ina Paarman". The book actually calls it 'Strawberry cheese dessert' but Gill calls it strawberry mousse, which sounds nicer:)

Ingredients
387 g sweetened condensed milk (1 and 1/3 regular sized tin)
1/3 (80 ml)  cup lemon juice
300 g fresh strawberries
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla esence
250 g cream cheese (called creamed cottage chesse in the cook book)

1 cup whipping cream
mint leaves for decoration

Use a food processor or electric mixer for easy mixing. Blend the condensed milk and lemon juice until the milk thickens. Wash, dry and hull the strawberries, reserving 12 for decoration. 

Blend the remainder with the condensed milk. Add the vanilla essence and cream cheese.

Whip the cream in a separate bowl until think and fold into cheese mixture. Pour into a glass dish or individual glasses.

Serve with reserved strawberries and decorate with mint leaves.