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Showing posts with the label Cream

Berries with stracciatella cream, and artichoke risotto

This is a super fast dessert: whip some cream and fold in some grated dark chocolate, cannot really see it much as it blends with the cream but the taste will be like a light chocolate mousse. Then top with strawberries and raspberries. So much better than those packaged instant whipped desserts! And now for something that takes a little longer, but taste really good: artichoke risotto. I only had two artichokes and needed a meal for 4 people, and risotto was the ideal solution. Clean the artichokes and remove the outer leaves. Peel the stalks and cut into small pieces. Put everything in water with lemon juice while you work or the artichokes will become black. Finely chop a handful of parsley with a couple of garlic cloves and add salt. Stuff the artichokes with the chopped garlic and parsley and add a drizzle of olive oil. Place in a casserole, together with the stalks, and add 5cm of water. Simmer on low with the lid on for one hour or until cooked (the outer leaves will start...

Limoncello Tiramisù step by step

Would you like t make a tiramisù style dessert without coffee? Are you a fan of lemons and limoncello? I had a jar of lemon curd to finish, so I made up this lemon version, and it worked wonders: in fact it tastes so good that no one will be believe that it is so easy to make! Of course I used NZ best limoncello,  Limoncello Sovrano .  Ingredients: 3 tbsp of lemon curd 300 ml cream 1 small glass of  Limoncello Sovrano  thinned with a little water 12 savoiardi biscuits Edible Flowers to decorate Smooth the lemon curd with 3 tbsp of cream, then whip the rest of the cream and fold with the lemon curd mixture. Place the Limoncello in a deep plate and add a little water to thin it down (or use just limoncello - I prefer to thin it down so that my kids can also eat this). Quickly soak the savoiardi biscuits in the limoncello, one side only, then place them in a serving bowl, soaked side up.  Add some cream and lemon curd mixture and ...

Chocolate and plum mousse with Italian meringue base and Fresh As plum powder

What I like about mousses is that you can just improvise, and as long as you beat well the main ingredients (eggs and cream) you can never go wrong! I made this with Arantxa; while I made the Italian meringue and whipped the cream she whipped the egg yolk, and while she folded the chocolate I folded the plum cream, and there was a lot of licking of spoons and bowl at the end, and 7 lovely mousses in the fridge! 3 large free range eggs, separated 2 tbsp icing sugar 50 ml water 300 ml cream 1 tbsp cocoa2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp  Fresh As  Plum Powder (plus some to sprinkle) Start by making an Italian meringue base: whip the egg white until stiff. In the meantime boil the water and icing sugar into a syrup. When the syrup is bubbly, start to thickens and smell like candy (but before is turns white or caramel! Be careful here!) pour it at once into the egg whites, (while beating). Keep beating until the meringue is cold again. In another bowl beat the egg yolks with the...

Tiramisù di Alessandra

I developed this recipe many years ago when I was living in Japan, and it has two particularities: it is made with cream instead of mascarpone (which was difficult to find then, but then became my signature dish - thus the name!) and the topping is not cocoa but Italian ground coffee. I also like to use whisky, good quality, it makes all the difference! Tiramisù di Alessandra Ingredients 3 free range eggs, separated 300ml cream 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar 15ml espresso coffee 15ml whisky 20 (1 x 250g packet) savoiardi or sponge biscuits espresso coffee powder for dusting (or cocoa) Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. Lightly    whip the cream, then fold in the eggs whites and beat together for a few seconds. In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks together with 1 tbsp of sugar until runny. Add to the cream and egg white mixture and beat again for a few seconds, In a wide soup bowl mix the espresso coffee, whisky and the remaining sugar and quic...

How to make mascarpone at home

To make mascarpone at home you can use just cream or a mixture of cream and milk, plus citric acid. Lemon juice can be used instead of citric acid, and if you have lemons (preferably not Meyer lemons, but some more acidic lemons)  you can use lemon juice, but citric acid is easy to measure. Some bloggers make a similar recipe and call the result ricotta (or  creamy ricotta ), but don't be fooled, they are mistaken (or idiots) and this is NOT ricotta, ricotta is a totally different product made in a totally different way and with different ingredients. You can find a recipe for ricotta  here  or, even better,  here .  Mascarpone is delicious, rich and fat, it is used in many Italian desserts or cheese dishes (like torta di mascarpone and gorgonzola) and of course the more cream you add the highest the fat content. I used 300 ml of cream and 200 ml of full fat (grey top) milk and 4-5 g of citric acid diluted in 50 ml of hot water (the lower the d...

Chocolate, strawberries and cream pudding

This dessert has three layers, and the first is a velvety chocolate pudding made with 3 egg yolks, 3 tbsp of sugar, 500 mil of full cream milk and plenty of Peruvian cooking chocolate (milk or dark, I used milk here). I didn't measure the chocolate, but you should go by taste, not everybody likes really intense chocolate! Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat well, then put on bain marie (double boiling) and simmer slowly, adding the milk little by little. Use top milk, otherwise use 400ml milk and 100 ml cream. Stir until the mixture thickens (it takes a long time!) then add the chocolate and melt. Pour into glasses and set aside to cool. Refrigerate for a few hours. In the meantime clean and hull the strawberries and cut into small pieces. Add a tsp of sugar and one of lemon juice and set aside for a few hours. Before serving top the chocolate with the strawberries and finally with whipped cream. Decorate with edible flowers (I used borage). Photos and Recipes ...

Pasta with asparagus and cream sauce

More asparagus! For the pasta I used penne, and for the sauce: 1 onion 1 bunch asparagus 2 tbsp olive oil 1 glass white wine salt to taste 200 ml cream black pepper chopped Italian parsley Parmesan to serve (optional) Finely chop the onion and the asparagus spares (keep the tips aside). Sauté the onion and asparagus spares with the olive oil, when they start to colour add the white wine, then cover and simmer, stirring from time to time and adding a little water when necessary. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, better if longer: the onion needs to be really soft. Add salt to taste. Add the cream and then the asparagus tips and simmer for a few minutes until the cream bubbles. Add freshly ground black pepper, chopped Italian parsley and the penne pasta, cooked al dente and drained (a little of water from the pasta is good too for a creamier sauce). Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese if you like. Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Chocolate, vanilla, cream and grappa shot desserts

I have these really cute grappa glasses, they are small straight tubes with one side of the glass almost 'melted' into it, like a thumb had been pressing it... and in fact it is quite nice to hold! Possibly these are not so practical for dessert (fortunately I have some tiny long spoons) but I wanted to use them, just for look.  So here is the recipes For the Vanilla layer: 3 free range eggs 4 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp flour 1.5 l full cream milk Vanilla essence 1 tsp grappa For the Chocolate layer: Just add some  72% dark chocolate to the vanilla mixture (about 50 g) Add more grappa if you like For the Cream: Just whip some cream Mix the eggs with the sugar and flour and add the milk slowly. Simmer until the custard thickens then add the vanilla essence and grappa. Pour half in a jug and stir. Add the chocolate to the rest and stir, then pour into the glasses (bowls, cups, trifle bowl...). Let it set then add the vanilla layer. Refrigerate then top it ...

miniature puddings in shot glasses

For the Custard: 3 free range eggs 4 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp flour 1.5 l full cream milk Vanilla essence Mix the eggs with the sugar and flour and add the milk slowly. Simmer until the custard thickens then add the vanilla essence. I pour some in a large bowl, then once cool I topped it with whipped cream, some lime and passion fruit curd (made by Ken) fresh raspberries and cherries, and ground pistachio. I had lots of custard left and I put some in some shot glasses. I added some 72% dark chocolate to the remaining hot custard and made some chocolate mini puddings for more shot glasses. I topped some of the chocolate puddings with pistachio, and other with cream and fruit of blackcurrant powder (from  Fresh As ). Some of the vanilla mini puddings were also topped with cream and fruit, and others with the lime and passion fruit curd.  I had some extra custard so I also made a quick trifle with lots of red fruit! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini...

Amarena cherry and whisky tiramisù

A little twist to my usual tiramisù with coffee: Italian Amarena cherries! I mixed a few cherries and their syrup with whisky (I usually mix coffee with whisky, I find it to be the best booze for tiramisù). Ingredients: 3 tbsp Italian Amarena cherries (with syrup) 2 tbsp whisky (a good one or, like in my case, what your husband let you use) 1 packet of savoiardi biscuits 3 large free range eggs 3 tbsp sugar 300 ml cream Cocoa to dust Mix the Amarena cherries with whisky: this is the syrup to soak the savoiardi. Use only half of the savoiardi, making your first layer in a 20 x 20 cm square and at least 5 cm high (or similar size rectangular) serving dish.  Please note: it is important not to over-soak the biscuits or the base will be too soft. Just dip them quickly on one side only (the sugary side is better), and place them in the serving dish with the soaked part facing up: this way the juices will slowly go through the biscuits. A...

Mandarin Crème for Sweet New Zealand

Oh yes, yummy yummy. At home we love crèmes, especially Arantxa and me (Max prefers chocolate puddings, but even he approved this one!). 3 eggs (medium-small) + 2 heaps tbsp sugar + 250ml cream + 1 tbsp of  dried mandarin segments  (put these in only at the end when the crème is thick and velvety). Remember to mix well while simmering so that the eggs don't curdle, some people find it easier to make the crème at bain Marie (double boiling) but I just use a low flame and good whisk. Pour into 4 glasses. Before serving add whipped cream, shaven dark (really dark) chocolate and some more segments of dried mandarines, which are crunchy and will create a nice contrast with the creamy texture underneath. To me, heavenly!! I am entering this recipe in the monthly blogging event Sweet New Zealand this month hosted by lovely Sue . Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Three Layer Puddings in a Jar: Vanilla, Chocolate and Plum Cream

First I made a vanilla pudding (following  this basic recipe , but omitting the passion fruit), and I filled the bottoms of the jars (they are 125ml jars) with it. I put the jars in a bowl with some cold water to cool quickly. I added a few pieces of 72% dark chocolate to the pot with the remaining vanilla pudding, which was still hot, and stirred to make chocolate pudding. I poured some in to make a second layer in the jars. I had a lot of chocolate pudding left over for four ramekins, so I made a separate dessert too :-).  In the end, when the puddings were cold I made the final pink layer: I whipped about 100 ml of cream with a tsp of  Plum Powder  (the flavour was lightly tangy and really nice, and the colour very pretty) and pour it on top. Refrigerate with the lid on, and serve with the lid on!! Very cute! Bye! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Pasta with pumpkin and porcini mushroom cream

This is the last  baby bear pumpkin  that I harvested last Autumn from my garden, and kept it in my potato draw for months (the others got eaten during Winter). Yesterday I finally cut it. I planted  baby bear pumpkins  for three years, and loved them, they are little so when I cut them they are perfect for one meal. To be honest last year I had a new mysterious pumpkin too in my garden (possibly from a seed in my compost), and my baby baby bears were quite different! Some were green and some were gray... A friend told me that I may had some cross pollination going on.  This year I planted a different pumpkin, a big Italian one, and had no more space in the garden for baby bears... I regret it now, when I cut my last tiny pumpkin inside it was fresh and perfect and sweet smelling... what a perfect veggie to grow since it can be stored for months!  For the sauce I used 20 g or dried porcini mushrooms soaked for 30 minutes in water. I c...

Yogurt Soufflé Glacé

The original recipe is from  Loredana  and you can find it  here  (in Italian).  The ingredients from Loredana: 3 egg whites (About  100g ) 200 g icing sugar 100 ml water 200 ml cream 250 g plain yogurt  1 tbsp fruit compote First you have to make an Italian meringue base. I must confess that I really enjoy making Italian meringue, possibly because it is not something that I see here in New Zealand. Beat the egg whites really stiff, in the meantime make a syrup with the water and icing sugar (I never used icing sugar for the syrup before, so this was a new one for me!). I don't have a sugar thermometer (didn't I say this already?? A few times?? Yep!) but you see, Loredana in her original recipe doesn't talk about temperatures, she just says to make quite a thick syrup. Ahh, a real home cook! I made my 'thickish' syrup, and I wish that I could explain it better, but it is that stage when the syrup just start to ...

Tiramisù ai Frutti di Bosco e Nuvole

I saw the name Cloudberry in the  New Yorker,  it wasn't a recipe, just an article with someone ordering Cloudberry Gelato in Aspen. I like the name, it reminded me of a Tibetan restaurant in London years and years ago where all the dishes had something to do with clouds, dragons or heaven. Astrofiammante just told me that the cloudberry is yellow,  this one ? Incredible! I planted it in my garden years ago, made lots of leaves and not a single berry! No yellow berries for me, so I changed the name of this dessert to Cloud-berry Tiramisù, or maybe it would be better to call it Berrycloud Tiramisù... and as I had some friends over for  crescentine , I decided to also test my new dessert, and its name, on them :-). A little edit, I added an Italian name to the dessert, the translation sounded really romantic. Tiramisù ai Frutti di Bosco e Nuvole Cloud-berry (or Berrycloud) Tiramisù Ingredients: 1 heap cup of...