Al Dente

Italian Love Bombs

If you've been following along, you already know of my love for fried dough, which manifests namely in the form of the churro, and occasionally a beignet. When I am in Italy that love extends to the bombolone, a round, soft ball of fried dough, rolled in granulated sugar, with a generous mound of pastry cream piped into the center. Little Italian love bombs.

While you can make these at home, these are best enjoyed between 4 and 5 a.m. after a night of socializing with friends in the piazza, when you can get them warm from the nearest bakery with a caffe macchiato before stumbling home to bed.

Bomboloni

Ingredients for Pastry Cream:

6 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup sugar
A vanilla bean, or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
The yolks of 6 very fresh eggs
1 pint (500 ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt

Ingredients for the Bomboloni:

1/2 ounce fresh yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons warm water
9 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 ounces granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 ounces butter

To serve:

1 pound granulated sugar
1 gallon canola oil
Pastry cream, as needed, from above

Pastry Cream Directions:

Pastry cream is not difficult to make, though it does require care and attention lest it curdle. Fernanda Gosetti, author of Il Dolcissimo, suggests you use a copper pot because it conducts heat better, and adds that if you make pastry cream frequently you should invest in a round-bottomed pot because its entire contents will be accessible to the whisk or spoon. She also notes that the cream should be transferred to a bowl as soon as it's ready, because it will continue to cook in the pot. The quantities given above can easily be expanded or reduced.

1. Set all but 1/2 cup of the milk to warm over a slow burner with the vanilla bean. In the meantime, lightly whisk the yolks in a bowl to break them. Strain the flour into the bowl, whisking gently, and making sure that no lumps form. Whisk in the sugar too, and then the remaining half cup of milk, keeping a wary eye for lumps.

2. By this time the milk on the stove will be about ready to boil. Fish out and discard the vanilla bean, and slowly whisk the milk into the egg-and-milk mixture. Return the cream to the pot and the pot to the fire, and continue cooking over a low flame, stirring gently, until it barely reaches a slow boil. Count to 120 while stirring constantly and it's done. (Note -- depending on your eggs and milk it may thicken to the proper consistency before it boils. If it reaches roughly the consistency of commercially prepared plain yogurt of the sort that will pour from the cup it's done).

3. Transfer it to a bowl and let it cool, gently stirring it often to keep a skin from forming across top, or place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream until ready to use.

Bomboloni Directions:

In bowl, place yeast, water, a pinch of flour and a pinch of sugar. Set aside until yeast mixture has doubled in size, about 20-25 minutes. Stir in remaining sugar and flour, eggs and salt. In bowl of electric mixture fitted with hook, place sugar mixture and mix until dough forms. Mix in butter. Cover surface of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 hours. Roll dough into 3/4-ounce balls and place on oiled, parchment-lined sheet tray. Set aside until tripled in size, about four to five hours.

To serve: In bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. In pot, place oil and heat to 315 degrees-F. Fry balls in oil until puffed and golden brown. Drain on paper towels; Dredge in granulated sugar. Cool five minutes. Poke hole in center. Using piping bag, fill interior of bomboloni with pastry cream.

Makes 24.

Have you ever tried a bombolone?

Related Items:
*Deep Fat Fryers
*Disposable Pastry Bags
*Pastry tips

Recipe credit, pastry cream: Kyle Phillips, italianfood.about.com
Recipe credit, bomboloni: 2009 Culinaire, Inc.
Photo credit: StellaCadente*

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista

Visions of Lemons Dancing in My Head

Nothing represents Capri, Italy more iconically than the lemon. Ok, maybe the Blue Grotto, which I have yet to see, or the Fariglioni. But the lemon and its image are ubiquitous on the island, dangling from trees and painted on majolica tiles, vases, key chains and ashtrays. Drunk as limoncello in chilled glasses after dinner. Dressing your plate of pasta as an al limone sauce. 

I have been daydreaming about Capri for weeks, so I just had to smile this morning when my manager at the Meals on Wheels-type nonprofit where I work part-time asked me to research some lemon dessert recipes for the seniors. Some kind of kizmet. I am taking this as a sign that there should be lemons in my life. But the sweet kind.

This is one of the recipes I came across that I want to try myself. It met both of the the criteria that I was given: lemon-y and easy to prepare.

Lemon Brown Sugar Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 loaf Challah bread, cut into 2-inch dice
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
2 lemons, zested
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream, for garnish
1/2 cup blueberries, for garnish
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees-F. Put bread cubes into large bowl. Mix eggs, cream, brown sugar, zest and vanilla together; pour over bread. Mix well and let sit for a minimum of 15 minutes.

2. Butter a casserole dish and pour the mixture into the casserole. Put into the top half of the oven until the center is slightly firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove and serve warm, topped with whipped cream, blueberries, and powdered sugar.

Serves: 6 to 8

As for Capri, I'll be soaking in the island and it all its citric glory starting on Monday. Somebody pinch me.

Related items:

*Casserole dishes
*Lemon zesters
*Majolica
*Whipped cream whippers

Recipe credit: Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh

Photo credit: Capri.net, Da Paolino Restaurant

--StellaCadente*

Take a virtual vacation with me: I'll be posting from the Old Country starting August 23 here on Al Dente, and at www.pomodorista.com. 

Pack a Picnic with Gateau Basque

Gateau Basque is the name of these adorable little pastries, the signature dessert of the southwest region of France known as Pays Basque. These particular cakes come from Miremont Patisserie, the oldest and finest bakery in the region's resort town of Biarritz. But you'll also find slices of Gateau Basque in cafes, snack bars and upscale restaurants all over the area.

Gateau Basque looks simple enough, but inside its pastry dough lies a custard creme or a cherry jam that turns this Plain Jane cake into a gem of a sweet. Only a few months ago, in December 2009, Dorie Greenspan shared her recipe for Gateau Basque with National Public Radio, positioning it as a perfect holiday treat because the cake is sturdy and easy to transport.

I think it makes great picnic fare for exactly the same reason. And if you bake the dough in small tins rather than as one large cake, you've got hand-pie-sized treats that don't even require a fork or a plate. Now that's perfect for a picnic!

Gateau Basque

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 to 1 cup thick cherry jam or an equal amount of vanilla pastry cream

1 egg beaten with a splash of water, for the glaze

Directions:
1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep at hand.
Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Add the egg and beat another 2 minutes or so, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture may look curdled, but that's OK. Add vanilla and mix for about a minute more. Then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two or three additions, mixing only until they're fully incorporated into the dough.

2. Place a large sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper on your work surface and put half of the very soft and sticky dough in the center of the sheet. Cover with another piece of plastic or wax paper, then roll the dough into a circle just a little larger than 8 inches in diameter. As you're rolling, turn the dough over and lift the plastic or paper frequently, so that you don't roll it into the dough and form creases. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

3. Put the dough on a cutting board or baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 3 hours or for up to 3 days.

4. When you're ready to assemble and bake the gateau, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Generously butter a 2-inch high, 8-inch round cake pan.

5. Remove the layers from the refrigerator and let them rest on the counter for a couple of minutes before peeling away the plastic or paper. Fit one layer into the pan -- if it breaks, just press the pieces together. If there's a little extra dough running up the sides of the pan, you can either fold it over the bottom layer or cut it so that it's even. Spoon some of the jam or pastry cream onto the dough, starting in the center of the cake and leaving one inch of dough bare around the border. Add more filling if you don't think it will squish out the sides when you press down on it with the top layer of dough. (I find that 3/4 cup is usually just the right amount, but if you're using a very thick jam, you might want a bit more.)

6. Moisten the bare ring of dough with a little water and then top with the second piece of dough, pressing down around the edges to seal it. If you'd like, you can work your finger between the top dough and the edge of the pan, so that you tuck the dough under a little. Because of the softness of the dough and the baking powder, even if you only press the layers together very lightly, they'll fuse as they bake. And, no matter how well you press them together, it seems inevitable that a little of the filling will escape.

7. Brush the top of the dough with the egg glaze and use the tips of the tines of a fork to etch a cross-hatch pattern across the top.

8. Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes before carefully running a blunt knife around the edges of the cake. Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack and then quickly and carefully invert it onto another rack so that it can cool to room temperature right side up.

Make 8 servings.

Dorie Greenspan, "Gateau Basque: A Perfect Cake for the Holiday", National Public Radio (NPR)

--Tracy Schneider

Sweet Deals At Farmers Market Makes For Incredible Ice Cream

I love a good bargain... almost as much as I enjoy supporting local producers by shopping at neighborhood farmers markets. Those two quests are often at odds. And while I'm willing to pay a premium for pristine fruit and veggies picked fresh hours before they go into my shopping bags, it's a challenge for me to fork over $18 for a half a flat of half pints of raspberries destined for the blender.

Recently, I mentioned my conundrum to the young woman manning one of my favorite fruit stands: "I really want to make some raspberry ice cream, but just can't bear to pay the price."

"Come over here," she whispered. I stepped behind the booth and there was a bucket of squashed and bruised fruit, too damaged to sell, but perfect for a raspberry puree. "I can sell this to you for cheap," she said.

Score!

I used an easy recipe from a nifty new book, The Joy Of Jams, Jellies, And Other Sweet Preserves by preserving whiz Linda Ziedrich and made some spectacular ice cream in my wonderful Kitchen Aid ice cream maker. The berry flavor was intense! Like summer in a bowl.

The very next day, while at The Pike Place Market, I hit up a vendor at the end of the day, asking if there were any seconds for sale. The counter jockey pulled out two big bags of slightly dinged up white peaches and charged me $2. Hello Peach Sorbet!

Now, those are the kind of deals I can really sink my teeth into!

Raspberry Ice Cream, from The Joy Of Jams, Jellies, And Other Sweet Preserves

1 cup cream

3 egg yolks

1 cup raw raspberry puree (1 pound raspberries pressed through a fine sieve)

2/3 cup sugar

Instructions

Whirl ingredients together in a blender. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream freezer, according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Yields: About 2 1/2 cups.

-- Leslie Kelly

That's a S'more, Eh?

I was in Cortina's market last week with my mom and Auntie Phyllis shopping stocking up for a pizza party, when a handwritten flyer with a recipe suggestion for Italian s'mores caught my aunt's attention. Simple yet brilliant. Wish I would have thought of it myself. I can't wait to try this Italian twist on an American classic.

Cortina's was also touting Nutella imported from Italy in a glass jar over that produced in Canada and packaged in plastic. They claim the stuff in the glass is better. Has anyone done a taste test? Nutella definitely is *not* on my present diet, so I will have to postpone my research to a later date.

Italian S'mores

Ingredients:

8 pizzelle
4 tablespoons Nutella
4 roasted marshmallows, large

Directions:

1. For each s'more, spread nutella on one side of two pizzelle. Place the roasted marshmallow between the two pizzelle. Repeat.

P.S. If you don't want to make your own pizzelle, you can find them pre-made at most Italian grocery stores.

P.P.S. I am thinking some smashed banana might be a nice addition, too.

Photo credit (pizzelle): StellaCadente*

Rome Industries Marshmallow Roasting Fork Set pictured bottom right

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista

Pop Art: Palette-Pleasing Mexican Popsicles

I love the "Fare" section of Saveur magazine, which features a writer waxing poetic about a food memory. This month's issue highlights paletas, or Mexican ice-pops. The brightly colored pops caught my eye, but the sweet narrative accompanying the article really hooked me on wanting to try these myself. I've enjoyed eating fresh mangoes on the beach in Mexico with chili, lime and salt, so for me, this is the flavor to try.

Paletas de Mango Con Chile

Ingredients:

1 cup store-bought mango juice or nectar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 large mango peeled, seeded, and cut into small cubes

Directions:

1. Heat mango juice, sugar, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Transfer mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled. Stir chili powder and cubed mango into the chilled mixture and pour into eight 3-ounce ice-pop molds. Insert a Popsicle stick into each mold and freeze until pops are solid, about 3 hours. To release pops from molds, run the bottom of the molds briefly under cold water.

Additional recipes:

*Tamarind-Chile Paletas
*Rice Pudding Paletas
*Pineapple Paletas
*Strawberries and Cream Paletas

Related Items:

*Popsicle molds
*Saveur magazine

Recipe credit: Saveur Magazine, No. 131, August/September 2010

Photo credit (mango paleta): Michael Kraus

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista

Hello, Cupcake!

Back in Vermont, my friends Zachary and Clark have been baking up sweets for their summertime feasts:

One of our favorite homemade treats in the summer is cupcakes. Yes, we could make them anytime, but they somehow just seem to go with summer and picnics and outdoor living. We've tried many recipes over the years, but nothing really grabbed us. Then we tried this one.

We weigh our words carefully here in Vermont, so when we say these are the best cupcakes you will ever eat, we mean it. Just make sure you use the very best vanilla extract, preferably Tahitian. The other elements of success in this recipe are in the details: weighing the flour and sugar, using cake flour instead of all-purpose, and lightening the batter with separately whipped egg whites.

Zachary and Clark told me you had to be a vanilla fan to enjoy these cupcakes, but my chocoholic daughter can't resist them. Sometimes we make them with chocolate frosting, but even when we make them with vanilla icing as they are here, they're the bomb! Try them yourself and let us know if you think you have a better cupcake recipe!

Classic Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Have ready at room temperature:

6-1/8 ounces cake flour
1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks
2 large egg whites

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; place cupcake papers in pans. Sift together first group of ingredients.

2. Add extracts to milk.

3. Cream butter alone until creamy and smooth, about 45 seconds. Add sugar in steady stream; beat at medium speed until very light in color and texture (2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks one at a time; continue beating until mixture is fluffy. Add flour mixture and alternate with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. Beat egg whites to almost-stiff peaks; fold into batter.

5. Fill cups with 1-3/4 inch cookie scoop (amount in scoop should be slightly heaping). Bake 21 to 23 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool on rack 10 to15 minutes, then remove from pan.

Makes 18 cupcakes.

--Tracy Schneider

Beignets at the Beach and Other Hawker Food

I've been a bit obsessed with doughnuts these last several months, seeking them out in neighborhood cafes or out-of-the-way bakeries just to get my hands on an elusive Italian zeppole, a Portuguese malasada or even some Polish paczki.

If you're on the beach in Biarritz, France, you don't have to seek out your doughnuts at all, they come to you via the beignet hawker who walks up and down the Grande Plage every afternoon.

Beignets, the French word for doughnuts, take many forms in France, but the beignets on the beach in Biarritz begin as soft and puffy deep fried buns that are split in half, slathered with either Nutella or abricot jam, and then dusted with powdered sugar.

I would never have guessed that beignets would make fine beach food, but after an afternoon of bodyboarding, it's just the sustenance you need.

What hawker food have you found at the beach? I'd love to know!

--Tracy Schneider

Take Back Summer with DeLonghi’s Lemon Gelato

Oh, the loveliness of summer: sunshine, long days, warm weather, and vacations. But it’s a dangerous beauty. Why? Because all these long, hot, sunny days lead to an immense craving for ice cream and its Italian cousin, gelato. Not that eating lots of these chilly treats is a bad thing on its own, but the amount of dollars you’ll spend at your local gelateria or ice cream shoppe (and yes, you should only stop at "ice cream shoppes" and never "ice cream shops") is enough that you’ll spend too much before vacation even starts, or before summer really gets rolling.

Which is why DeLonghi’s newish GM6000 gelato maker is a summertime daydream. Sure, it’s easy to use (just put the ingredients in--sometimes after a little mixing--and it does the rest of the work), and it comes with a handy and tastiness-packed recipe book to get you started, and it’s easy to clean as well, but the real key is how it allows you to serve genuine and genuinely delicious gelato at home. It makes enough in one batch, and makes it quickly enough, that you can have gelato for the whole neighborhood before long, if you want (you’ll need to store some in the freezer, but you’ll enjoy the cool breeze that comes with opening the freezer door). My favorite so far is lemon (after trying it, peach, Mexican chocolate, oatmeal raisin cookie, and plain chocolate), which makes some sense since lemon and pistachio are my favorite gelato flavors normally. To make the lemon even more of a treat, I saved my lemon rinds after juicing some lemons, and put the rinds in the freezer. Then, I stuffed each with lemon gelato and served them up that way--they were a huge hit (see pic below for actual evidence). Here’s the recipe, straight from the above-mentioned recipe book that comes with the gelato maker.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of lemon juice
Zest of 2 lemons, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cream

Directions:
1. Place the water, sugar, filtered lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a bowl and mix until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add the cream and milk and pour into the gelato bowl. The gelato will be ready in about 40 minutes and you will obtain 6-to-8 portions.

Quick 'n' Easy July 4 Dessert: Brownie & Berry Sundae Bar

One of my new favorite indulgences are Trader Joe's Sea Salt Brownie Petites. They are rich without being too fudge-y, not overly sweet, and to a saltoholic like me, perfectly salty. 

They also make the perfect base for a quick 'n' easy dessert for your July 4 party.

Brownie & Berry Sundae Bar

Checklist:

Trader Joe's Sea Salt Brownie Petites
Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries
Vanilla ice cream
Hot fudge
Vanilla whipped cream
Ice cream bowls
Serving spoons
Spoons
Napkins

Set out ingredients out buffet-style and have your guests create their own concoction.

Happy Independence Day!

Photo credit (berries): www.choosingraw.com

Pictured bottom right: iSi Professional Cream Whipper

--StellaCadente*

Follow me on Twitter @pomodorista