The Italian Essence

I was in the middle of a silly mystery romance when one of the characters said that he didn't like eating Italian food outside Italy, because out of contest our food loses much of its magic. I totally disagree.

What makes Italian food good is the quality of ingredients and even a talented chef with the wrong stuff is destined to fail. Buy fresh real Italian Mozzarella and you'll obtain a wonderful real pizza, buy real Mascarpone and you'll be able to make your own Tiramisù, buy fresh real-red tomatoes (Go to the nearest Farmer market, no the veggie isle in the supermarket to find them) and your sauce will be a real hit. Even on the other side of the planet.

Home Made Pizza peperoni & salame piccante

I remember that time when my colleagues and I organized a lunch in the office bringing home made food. I was asked to bring a dessert. The Tiramisù. Same task was entrusted to an other guy. Well, at the end of our special lunch my Tiramisù had disappeared, his (Better said his girlfriend's Tiramisù) laid in the little office refrigerator for a week and was miserably tossed when it started to grow green ugly stuff.

I'm not here to prise myself for my culinary ability :-) I'm telling you this story, because I prepared my Tiramisù with the original receipt, using the required ingredients and process. My colleague's girlfriend decided to give a try to the lighter yogurt version. And the result was pretty awful. 

I mean, do you want to eat Tiramisù? Do it. Embrace the luscious taste and its ridiculous contribution of calories without a second thought. Don't even try to obtain the voluptuous taste of the Mascarpone cream using a low fat yogurt. It's the fat that makes it good.  If you are on a diet go for a strawberry sherbet and cave for the real Tiramisù when you are psychologically ready :-)

Now. Do you want my infallible receipt? Yeah? Here we go.

Tiramisù:

500 gr Mascarpone

4 Eggs

4 spoons confectioner's sugar 

20 ml dark (sweet & spicy) Rum 

300 ml sugared strong Italian coffee (Not espresso coffee, but the Moka coffee)

500 gr Savoiardi biscuits (Only them! My favorites ar the Matilde Vicenzi Savoiardi)

Cocoa powder

In a medium bowl, beat three egg whites with electric mixture till stiff peaks form and set aside.

In another medium bowl, Beat the egg yolks with sugar until creamy, about 1 minute. If not beaten well, then the filling will have an egg-y taste. Then smoothly add Mascarpone cheese and rum. Mix until there are no more lumps.

Gently fold the egg whites into the Mascarpone mixture with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Dip the cookies in sugared coffee (you can add a other shot of rum if you want) and lay them into a rectangular glass pan or Tupperware. Place the Savoiardi close/next to each other so there is no filling in between. Pour half the Mascarpone mixture onto the cookies and spread evenly across the top. Repeat the process for a second layer of cookies and cream and cover the glass pan with a plastic wrap or the Tupperware with his top. Don't let the cream makes a dry film during the Tiramisù rest :-).

Refrigerate for over night for best results. If you really must, then refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours before serving but it might still be runny. Sprinkle with cocoa.

Do you need more details? ask me! I'll be happy to share my tricks :-)