If you’re an Ina Garten fan, you wait for the next cookbook like cheese waits for crackers…or actually, that might be “crusty bread” or “good baguette” if you’re Ina-smart. I was sure; I would have sworn I preordered this book. After all, I have tickets to see Ina in Denver on November 19 while she’s on the book tour. I’ve pushed it on this very blog. (No, I get no cash from Ina.)
Why wouldn’t I have preordered it? Day after day I watched the front porch to no avail. Finally I checked my amazon orders and there WAS NO INA ON ORDER! *$%&# Quick like a bunny, I punched it in with free shipping; I’m amazon prime. It arrived just in the nick of time for Ina Fridays and a Lasagna alla Bolognese birthday dinner I’m cooking for friends Saturday night. Phew. Et voila,
MAKE-AHEAD ZABAGLIONE WITH AMARETTI
If you’d like the recipe, it’s on Ina’s website here. (Kind of a surprise.) And, of course, if you’d like to buy the book, click here or go to amazon, which you knew.
While I can typically find nearly all of the ingredients for Ina’s recipes — even if the quality isn’t what it is on Long Island (I’m thinking the meat, fish, herbs, flowers, smoked salmon and cheese she unwraps…) — Colorado Springs pulled a great big zippola on the amaretti cookies. We have a small, lovable Italian deli– Mollica’s— Dave and I eat at once a month or so. Mollica’s sells fresh pasta, frozen lasagna and sauces, imported pastas, canned goods, sweets, and and makes a mean grinder, pizza, salad, or plate of spaghetti. At Christmas they have treats like amaretti, but alas, those shipments haven’t yet come in. I could order them from amazon dot com, but I doubt they’d arrive in time. Punt it is. I choose to punt with biscotti that I’ll crush, drizzle with Amaretto, let dry, and then use to layer the custard called zabaglione. When I think of the times armaretti–purchased at Mollica’s — have gone stale in my cupboards…
Another ingredient note: If you don’t have superfine sugar, you can whirrrrr some up in your food processor; follow the directions here.
Zabaglione [zah-bahl-YOH-nay] is a famous Italian custard dessert that is usually served with sliced fresh fruit or berries. The French refer to this as Sabayon and it is used as a dessert or a sauce. It is light and refreshing and perfect as warm weather dessert.
courtesy Whats Cooking America dot net.
It’s not exactly kosher to imbed youtube videos in posts without explicit permission–even if the “embed” option is enabled. Sigh; it’s so tempting when there’s something so sweet. If you’d like to watch an Italian cook make some zabaglione very quickly, click here and try out your Italian! You can sort of figure out most of it and her long-practiced technique makes it look so easy. There you go; you can now make zabaglione! It’s just a sweet soft custard with a lot of eggs and a lot of wine. I’ve made it a time or two before; it’s simple and wondrous on fresh summer berries or as a drizzle underneath them in a shallow bowl.
Ina’s directions say you can make this dessert two days ahead, but I’m not stretching my luck; I don’t need this dessert until Saturday night and it’s a warm Thursday afternoon. I’ll make mine in the morning, which is Friday, and, so, if you’re looking at my post uber-early, you won’t see my photos. I’ll get up early, make the custard, and put them together when the photographs will work. Like many food bloggers, I depend upon natural light unless it’s a wretched push-come-to-shove like a 3-day cooking marathon that ends at 7pm and won’t be repeated for another year. Such as in cassoulet. My cassoulet pictures are all horrible, horrible. They’re all brown to begin with. Well, let’s not go there. I need to make it and have it get done at 9am sometime. Not right before Christmas Eve worship. At ANY RATE, ALYCE….
In the meantime, you should see what Tucker and Rosie are up to. They’ve made friends, romp and play, and are generally pretty content. Rosie is a sweetheart and a hoot, and loves everyone. When we get the house training done, we’ll all be happier!
For the one below, listen to this:
Ok, it’s Friday! I made it early this morning and took it outdoors on the still-warm deck to photograph in the very light sunshine… It was silly easy to make and even sillier and easier to taste. Luckily it’s morning and I didn’t eat much; it’s full of marsala! I’m thinking I might take some of the leftover custard and spoon it on top of sautéed apples for tonight’s dessert as I made just four desserts for Saturday’s dinner. Another bonus: there are 6 egg whites and I used half of them for a mushroom-cheese omelet for breakfast. Try this; you’ll like it! (Especially lovely for non-bakers, I’d say.)
ALL ABOUT INA FRIDAYS:
This month we have desserts, but on Friday, December 7, 2014, we have super appetizers to get you through the winter holidays. Mark your calendar and plan on visiting and cooking up lots goodies.
- Alyce @ More Time at the Table
- Anna @ Cheese with Noodles
- Barbara @ Moveable Feasts
- Bhavna @ Just a Girl From AAmchi Mumbai..
- Chaya @ Bizzy Bakes
- Linda@ There and Back Again
- Linda, @ Tumbleweed Contessa
- Mary @ The Egg Farm
- Minnie @ The Lady 8 Home
- Patti @ Comfy Cuisine
- Peggy@ Pantry Revisited
- Rocky Mountain Woman @ Rocky Mountain Woman
- Veronica@ My Catholic Kitchen
Sing a new song; Look at your Ina books and cook!
Alyce
Looks delicious Alyce. I will have to try this one soon. I’ll bet you are loving the new kitchen! Tucker and Rosie seem to approve!
It’s a wonderful dessert–particularly for non-bakers. I only got to taste a bit so far; I’m saving it for Saturday when we have friends coming for dinner. Tuck and Rosie did lick up a few crumbs!
Pleased to read you like the book, Alyce. This dessert is lovely and so simple to make. (Hope the Marsala gave your morning a boost! 🙂 )
I made this recipe and thought it was terrific. I don’t have any friends who would eat parfaits as large as she shows in the book. I made it and kept it in a bowl in the refrigerator and served it in coupe glasses over sliced strawberries that had not been sweetened as the zabaglione itself is so sweet and put the crushed Amaretti on top. It’s really worth getting the Amaretti in in the paper wrappers because they are so easy to crush with an 8-inch chef’s knife.
These were my changes:
After I mixed the eggs with the marsala and the sugar, I strained the mixture to make it smooth before I cooked it. I would definitely do this again. Also I did not fold the whipped cream in; I whisked it because it had gone just a smidgen past the soft stage but did not get grainy, and it worked beautifully.
For me this is a real keeper.
A real keeper for me, too. Enjoyed hearing your adventure and about your changes. Glad to see you here!