Gianna’s Easy Pick-Me-Up
“I spent my junior year of college in a foodie’s paradise: Florence, Italy. My apartment, a tiny 2-bedroom in a former convent, was a short walk from the Duomo and, more important, Il Mercato Centrale, the bustling marketplace where Florentines buy their groceries daily. Italy has an eternal farmer’s market; people typically purchase ingredients every morning for that day’s meals. At the Mercato, there are individual vendors for each product. One person sells cheese, another tomatoes, a third bread, and so on.?? Each vendor specializes in his or her product, and their years of making the same panini, for example, have resulted in unique recipes that makes your mouth water. There were days when I had to remind myself that I was actually in Florence to study Renaissance art and literature, not to just cook and eat!
“One day I was visiting an Italian friend who was preparing a dish for someone whose father had just died. I remember her being in sort of a hurry, gathering ingredients quickly from her kitchen cupboards. She assembled the ingredients on her counter and just started combining them while we were talking. She made it look so easy. Within minutes she had assembled the most beautiful dessert, sure to cheer up her friend.
I asked her what it was, and she replied in a cheery voice: ‘Tiramisu!’ (Tiramisu means ‘pick me up,’ so called because of the strong espresso coffee used in it.) I took mental notes and promptly headed to the Mercato to get the ingredients.
“Now I see this popular dessert on restaurant menus all the time, and I always recall that day in Florence when I watched my friend assemble this simple dish that truly picks you up!”
Gianna’s Tiramisu
Serves 6 to 8
24 ladyfingers
1/2 cup rum or Italian liqueur (amaretto, etc.)
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
5 large eggs, preferably organic, separated
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 pound mascarpone cheese, softened
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, grated or shaved
Arrange enough ladyfingers to cover the bottom of a 2-quart serving dish. Sprinkle the rum and coffee over the ladyfingers.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar until the mixture is smooth and thick. Blend in the mascarpone cheese.
In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Stir about a quarter of the egg white meringue into the cheese mixture, then fold in the rest of it.
Pour half of the resulting cheese mixture over the ladyfingers. Sprinkle it with half the chocolate. Repeat with the remaining cheese, chocolate, and ladyfingers. Refrigerate the mixture for at least two hours. Serve directly from the serving dish. Enjoy!”
