Tiramisu
(A Dessert From the Veneto Region of Italy)
|
No one seems to know exactly
who invented Tiramisu. It seems pretty certain, however that it was
initially made in the Veneto region of Italy, and from there spread very
quickly. There are quite a few interpretations of this dessert in
the culinary literature of Italy. The version here is from Giorgio
Mistretta' s amazingly good book, "The Italian Gourmet", Weldon Owens
Publishing, Ltd., Australia, 1992, ISBN# 1-875-137-57-2. Another
good recipe - in Italian - may be found in Pradelli's "Il Grande Libro
della Cucina Italiana", Newton & Compton, 1999, ISBN# 88-8289-313-8. Regular visitors to The Artisan know that we do not publish desserts, nor do we usually publish recipes easily found in the literature. A perusal of our "not found" search engine results showed us that the most "not found result" was encountered when Tiramisu was the search topic. Thus, this recipe is posted here as a service to all of those frustrated searchers. As we have no "Dessert" section on the site, we are posting this in the Ricette d' Italia Section. |
Ingredients
| 4 | Lg. | Eggs - yolks only |
| 1 1/4 | Cups | Sugar |
| 1/4 | Cup | Marsala - dry |
| 8 | Oz. | Mascarpone |
| 1 | Cup | Heavy Cream |
| 30 | Ladyfinger cookies - Sponge biscuits | |
| 6 | Cups | Espresso coffee - Strong and cooled to room temperature |
| 3 | Tbl. | Unsweetened Cocoa powder |
| 1 1.4 | Oz. | Dark chocolate - semisweet |
Preparation
Make the zabaglione. Stir the egg yolks in a double boiler adding sugar and Marsala until the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes. Take off the heat and stir continuously until cooled..
Beat the mascarpone and cream together until thick. Fold into the cold zabaglione until smooth and well mixed.
On the base of a 12 X 8 X 2 inch rectangular baking dish , put a layer of ladyfingers lightly soaked in coffee, cover this with half of the zabaglione, and sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder pushed through a sieve that is held over the dish. Add a second layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers, and more cocoa, and cover with the remaining zabaglione cream. Tap the dish lightly to settle the contents, then coat with a further layer of cocoa and some shavings of the dark chocolate. Chill for a few hours in the refrigerator before serving.
NOTE: We have had this dish in a variety of incarnations. In one deep dish version, the ladyfingers were placed vertically in the bowl, and then the toppings were added. Each layer was constructed this way, and gave rise to a 7-8 inch thick, excellent dessert.
For those folks who are interested in more about Tiramisu, we provide the following link:
We certainly are not experts relative to either making or eating Tiramisu. We have visited the above site, and were impressed with its breadth and scope. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or validity of the site, but do feel that it is worth a visit if Tiramisu is important to you.
