It may have appeared, from my previous post, that my return to mass catering was marked solely by a vast quantity of chocolate mousse. Those of you who know me in the right context may well have been surprised by this. Those of you who have never met me in mass-catering mode, possibly less so. But fear not- for this to be a Return, with a capital R, one measly batch of mousse would not suffice, nononononono. There was also shortbread, and there was TIRAMISU.
The tiramisù, at the tender age of 2 hours, encounters snow for the first time.Cultural sidenote: the French, unlike the British, think there are several sorts of tiramisù. For any French readers (ze boy, this means TOI) this was a coffee one. My mother-in-law-to-be made a tiramisù of the other variety- fruits rouges- the same afternoon. I'm not sure both are really tiramisù. If any Italians happen to be passing, please can you let me know what your opinion is on this matter? Ta.
This is not, and could never be, a food blog. For one, I'm no good with recipes. I read a number of food blogs and devour recipe books (not literally, mind) but it's mainly for inspiration and- ooh look! - pretty pictures.
However- and this had to be going somewhere, didn't it? I'm not a Eurostar train or a Flyglobespan customer (oh wait, I am. But the less said about that, the better)- I am going to attempt to post a recipe. My tiramisù recipe, developed in an odd set of circumstances at an altitude of 1800 m with no electricity, differs somewhat from the norm and is generally well-received, so I thought I'd share...
Ingredients (to feed a normal medium-sized horde, or a small horde of wookies)
- Boudoir biscuits/ladyfingers/savoiardini/'those biscuits wot y'put in tiramisù'- 3 packets
- Mug of coffee
- Sugar- a bit. No, a bit more than that. Yeah, that'll do.
- Mascarpone- a couple of tubs (600g or so)
- Double cream- a bit less than the mascarpone
- Alcohol- traditionally marsala, the latest version had madeira in it, the campers' version nearly contained genepi but this is not advisable, Tia Maria is also good
- Egg yolks (optional) and a bit more sugar
- 300g or so dark chocolate, depending on how much of it you're planning to eat in the process
Equipment
- Weighing scales
- Electric whisk, willing French (or other, ve shall not deescreemeenate) Boy, bribed camper or similar
- Knife, or hammer, or rolling pin and plastic bag, or small clean rodent
- Gurt Big Bowl For Sticking Stuff In
- Serving Dish
H'instructions
Pick up weighing scales. Give them a hug to console them over the fact they will not be being used, then put them away again.
Take swig of coffee. If it tastes ok it's not strong enough and you haven't put enough sugar in it. Fix this. Add two glugs of alcohol to coffee.
Put layer of biscuits in bottom of serving dish. Give biscuit to helper to put them in a good mood (this will prove useful later). Spoon coffee-like substance over biscuits, but carefully- you don't want to soak them completely, you just want them to absorb a little bit. Soggy tiramisù (aka tiramisoup) is not as good, somehow.
If you're feeling brave and have egg yolks lying around, or fancy making meringues with the leftover egg whites later (stranger things have happened), whisk them in a bowl over a pan of boiling water with a goodly quantity of sugar and a slug of alcohol (heehee! mental image of inebriated slug)until the mixture thickens and lightens in colour. This is called zabaglione and it is gooood. I'm not convinced it makes much difference to the tiramisù, but this way you get to lick the bowl. If you've made zabaglione, spoon some over the biscuits. If not...well...don't.
Put cream in bowl. Use electric whisk or helper (with whom you should have shared the bowl from the zabaglione to encourage them to help) to whisk cream. Add mascarpone and some sugar for good measure and give the whole lot a good beating with a wooden spoon (no, not the helper, you're going to need them later and it pays to be nice at this point).
Have helper (/use knife/rolling pin to) bash up the chocolate. Eat all the bits that are too big. If you can't bribe someone to help you, chocolate chips are also an option, but there won't be any excuse to eat half of it then. Mix half of the chocolate in with two thirds of the mascarpone and cream mixture (yes! I can do FRACTIONS now!)- this cuts through the richness nicely and is, essentially, what makes my recipe different. Layer mixture over biscuits.
Keep going with the layers. For the last layer, use the mascarpone/cream stuff WITHOUT the chocolate added (it's prettier), then tip the remaining chocolate on top- see picture above for how it should turn out.
Put tiramisù in fridge, or take it out to play in the snow if you want. You could even take pictures of it if you're that way inclined. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and won't go soggy unless you put too much coffee stuff on the biscuits. It will also tolerate having birthday candles stuck in it, unlike some desserts I could mention.
Back to the cupboard now. Please don't steal my leftovers or I'll publish the recipe for lavender meringues. Now there's a threat.
Take swig of coffee. If it tastes ok it's not strong enough and you haven't put enough sugar in it. Fix this. Add two glugs of alcohol to coffee.
Put layer of biscuits in bottom of serving dish. Give biscuit to helper to put them in a good mood (this will prove useful later). Spoon coffee-like substance over biscuits, but carefully- you don't want to soak them completely, you just want them to absorb a little bit. Soggy tiramisù (aka tiramisoup) is not as good, somehow.
If you're feeling brave and have egg yolks lying around, or fancy making meringues with the leftover egg whites later (stranger things have happened), whisk them in a bowl over a pan of boiling water with a goodly quantity of sugar and a slug of alcohol (heehee! mental image of inebriated slug)until the mixture thickens and lightens in colour. This is called zabaglione and it is gooood. I'm not convinced it makes much difference to the tiramisù, but this way you get to lick the bowl. If you've made zabaglione, spoon some over the biscuits. If not...well...don't.
Put cream in bowl. Use electric whisk or helper (with whom you should have shared the bowl from the zabaglione to encourage them to help) to whisk cream. Add mascarpone and some sugar for good measure and give the whole lot a good beating with a wooden spoon (no, not the helper, you're going to need them later and it pays to be nice at this point).
Have helper (/use knife/rolling pin to) bash up the chocolate. Eat all the bits that are too big. If you can't bribe someone to help you, chocolate chips are also an option, but there won't be any excuse to eat half of it then. Mix half of the chocolate in with two thirds of the mascarpone and cream mixture (yes! I can do FRACTIONS now!)- this cuts through the richness nicely and is, essentially, what makes my recipe different. Layer mixture over biscuits.
Keep going with the layers. For the last layer, use the mascarpone/cream stuff WITHOUT the chocolate added (it's prettier), then tip the remaining chocolate on top- see picture above for how it should turn out.
Put tiramisù in fridge, or take it out to play in the snow if you want. You could even take pictures of it if you're that way inclined. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and won't go soggy unless you put too much coffee stuff on the biscuits. It will also tolerate having birthday candles stuck in it, unlike some desserts I could mention.
Back to the cupboard now. Please don't steal my leftovers or I'll publish the recipe for lavender meringues. Now there's a threat.
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