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ITALIAN RECIPES

Zuccotto, a Chilled Dessert for Your Summer

Zuccotto

Ingredients:

1/4 pound pan di spagna (this is also known as genoise -- a light airy cake; see below)
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3 sheets of fish glue, or a packet of unflavored gelatin of the kind used to thicken puddings
1/4 pound baking chocolate
About 10 candied cherries
1/4 cup maraschino cherry liqueur
1/2 cup candied citron
1/4 cup milk
A high-sided hemispherical bowl about 7 inches across.
For the chocolate sauce:
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:

Put the sheets of fish glue in a bowl and cover them with warm water to soften. Set aside the best looking cherry and dice the rest with the citron. Shred the baking chocolate.
Next, make the chocolate sauce: Melt the butter over low heat and stir in the cocoa and water.

Slowly stir in the sugar and continue cooking over a low flame for five minutes, stirring gently, then remove it from the fire.
Squeeze the sheets of fish glue dry, and melt them in a pot over a low flame with three tablespoons of water, then let the mixture cool (if you are using powdered gelatin mix it up).

Cut the pan di spagna into quarter-inch thick slices and line the bowl with them. Sprinkle them with the liqueur, and, if need be, a little milk. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then beat in the confectioner's sugar and the gelatin, which should still be warm.
Carefully divide the whipped cream mixture, and fold into one half the chocolate sauce. Pour it into the bowl and sprinkle it with half the candied fruit. Fold the remaining diced candied fruit and the shredded chocolate into the other half of the whipped cream, and use it to fill the mold.

Cover the top of the zuccotto with the remaining slices of pan di spagna, sprinkle them with a little milk, and chill for 5 hours.
Just before serving the zuccotto dip the mold in hot water. Unmold it onto a serving platter, decorate it with the perfect cherry you set aside, and serve.

Coffee Zuccotto

Ingredients:

1 pound commercially prepared Genovese, pan di Spagna, or pound cake
1 3/5 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons instant coffee
3 tablespoons coffee liqueur
Chocolate drops
2 tablespoons cocoa
A 7-inch hemispherical bowl

Preparation:

Cut the cake lengthwise into half-inch thick slices and cut each in half on a slant to obtain so many triangles. Line the bowl with the triangular slices, putting the points in the center, and when you have finished brush the cake with the coffee liqueur.
Combine the cream and the instant coffee in a bowl and whip them to firm peaks.

Fill the mold with the cream, spooning in a layer, covering it with slices of cake brushed with coffee liqueur, adding more cream with some chocolate bits, another layer of cake, and so on until you have used everything up, finishing with a layer of cake.

Chill the zuccotto for 6 hours. To unmold the zuccotto dip the mold into hot water, set a plate over it, and flip both so the zuccotto comes to rest on the plate. Dust the zuccotto with the cocoa, and serve.

Strawberry Zuccotto

Ingredients:

1 pound commercially prepared Genovese, pan di Spagna, or pound cake
2 2/5 cups heavy cream
1 3/4 pounds strawberries, washed, drained and hulled
3 sheets fish glue, or a packet of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
To Garnish The Zuccotto:
2/5 cup heavy cream
Several attractive looking strawberries

Preparation:

Set the fish glue to soaking in cool water.
Slice the cake into half-inch slices. A hemispherical bowl 7-8 inches in diameter.
Quarter the strawberries and put them in a bowl with the granulated sugar.
Let them rest for 15 minutes, and while they are resting slice the cake into half-inch thick, and use some of them to line the bowl.

Drain the juice from the strawberries into a small saucepan and stir a tablespoon of water into them. Squeeze the excess water from the sheets of fish glue and add them to the strawberry juice in the saucepan.

Heat gently, stirring, until the glue dissolves.
Whip the cream to fairly firm peaks, fold the strawberry gelatin into it, and then incorporate the strawberries.

Fill the bowl with the strawberry cream, smooth the filling with a spatula, and cover it with more slices of cake. Chill the zuccotto for at least 4 hours.Come serving time, dip the mold in hot water, cover it with a serving plate and flip both; when you remove the bowl the zuccotto will remain on the plate.

Whip the remaining cream and put it in a pastry bag with a starburst nozzle; decorate the base of the zuccotto with dabs of creamand strawberries, and arrange more sections of strawberry at the top of the zuccotto, in a starburst pattern, and decorate with a ring of whipped cream as well.

Rice Zuccotto

Ingredients:

For the Zuccotto
1/2 cup short-medium grained rice along the lines of originario (see note)
2 4/5 cups milk
2/5 cup heavy cream
3 yolks, lightly beaten
The grated zest of 2 organically grown lemons
1/4 cup unsalted butter, in bits
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Maraschino liqueur
A pinch of Salt
To Decorate the Zuccotto
2 ounces candied orange peel, finely diced
2 ounces candied citron, finely diced
2/5 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon fruit jam
A candied cherry

Preparation:

Combine the milk with the grated lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a saucepot and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rice and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed all the milk.

When the rice is done remove the pot from the fire and let it cool. Work the butter, yolks (see above note), and maraschino into the rice. Whip the cream and fold it into the rice mixture. Use the filling to fill a hemispherical pudding mold and chill it in the refrigerator for an hour.

In the meantime, prepare the decorations: Dice the candied fruit. Combine the jam and a tablespoon of water in a small saucepan and heat, stirring, until the mixture is homogeneous. Whip the remaining cream and put it in a pastry bag with a starred nozzle.
To unmold the zuccotto dip the mold into hot water, set a plate over it, and flip both so the zuccotto comes to rest on the plate.

Brush the zuccotto with the diluted jam, sprinkle it with the candied citron and orange, and lay a ring of whipped cream around the base, and also at the very top, to serve as a bed for the candied cherry.

Buon appetito!

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