Coffee Bavarian Cream with Chocolate Biscotti and Orange Zest

For the Bavarian cream

4 dl (1.7 cups) milk
1.5 dl (0.7 cup) strong espresso or moka coffee
5 egg yolks
200 gr (0.45 lb) sugar plus 2 tablespoons
15 gr (0.03 lb) of gelatin in sheets
5 dl (2.1 cups) heavy cream
One vanilla bean
One teaspoon of powdered sugar
One orange

For the biscotti

250 gr (0.55 lb) dark chocolate

125 gr (0.27 lb) whipped butter

110 gr (0.25 lb) sugar

2 eggs 

35 gr (0.08 lb) flour

Pour the milk into a saucepan with the coffee and the vanilla bean halved lengthwise. Bring to a boil, remove from heath and remove the vanilla bean. Place the gelatin sheets in a bowl with cold water for 5-10 minutes. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan, slowly add the hot milk, and put the pan on low heat stirring gently and making sure it does not boil. Wring gently the gelatin to remove excess water, add it to the hot mixture, stirring until dissolved, then remove from heat and pass the cream through a mesh strainer to filter out any residue. The cream does not really need to cook or thicken; the purpose is to melt the sugar and the gelatine sheets.

Put the bowl with the warm cream in a larger contained filled with ice water and let the mixture cool, stirring often. When the cream is chilled and has begun solidifying, combine it with the whipped heavy cream. As a general rule, when mixing two creams of different consistency, always add the more liquid one to the thicker.
Transfer the mixture into a 1.5-liter mold or into 6 single-portion molds and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Prepare the biscotti cutting 125 gr (0.27 lb) of chocolate into small pieces and melting it in a bain-marie. While the chocolate melts, add the sugar to the whipped butter; then incorporate the eggs, the flour and the melted chocolate.

Place a 15in-by-11in silicone baking mat over an oven grid and transfer the mixture over the mat. You can also use a large sheet pan, but while the baking mat is non-stick, you will need to grease the regular pan with a thin layer of butter and then cover it with some flour. With the help of a spatula spread the mixture over the mat leaving one inch of free space on each side.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 180ºC (350ºF). While the mixture is still warm, place the mat over a flat surface and cut the pastry into pieces approximately 2in. by 4in. Once the biscotti are cold, melt the remaining chocolate in a bain-marie, dip each of them half-way deep in the chocolate (lengthwise) and let them rest on a sheet of parchment paper until dry.

Dissolve the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar in a tablespoon of water on low heat. Dip the yellow part of the orange peel, cut into thin slices, in the syrup, remove the peel after a few minutes and leave to cool on a sheet of parchment paper.

Turn out the Bavarian on a plate and decorate with the biscotti, the orange zest and a few thin slices of orange.

Swordfish and Eggplant Ravioli



For 6 people

For the Dough:

4 eggs

500 gr (1.1 lb) flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

For the Filling:

400 gr (0.9 lb) eggplant pulp

400 gr (0.9 lb) swordfish

½ cup white wine

60 gr (0.13 lb) pecorino cheese

A handful of pine nuts

1 small onion

4 tablespoons olive oil

Thyme, pepper and salt

For the Sauce:

250 gr (0.55 lb) swordfish

½ glass white wine

Chili powder and parsley

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

Start working on the filling by peeling the eggplant and cutting the pulp into little cubes, and finely chopping the onion. Heat 3 or 4 spoons of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion for 4 or 5 minutes, add the eggplant and the fresh thyme, season with salt and cook them for about 15-20 minutes. Remove them from the pan.

Cut the swordfish into small pieces. Put the pieces in a hot pan with 3 or 4 spoons of olive oil, season with salt and pour in the white wine. Cook for just a couple of minutes, then turn off and, when cool, mince with a mixer. 

Put the minced swordfish, the eggplant, the pine nuts and the pecorino cheese in a bowl and mix well with a spoon.

Prepare the dough with a pasta machine or mixing with your hands the flour with the eggs and 2 spoons of olive oil, adding enough water to obtain a smooth, elastic dough. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces and roll them into thin sheets to be cut according to the size of your ravioli maker. 

I’m sure all of you have a ravioli maker, but if you don’t, I purchased mine here and am very happy with it; it’s very easy to use and it allows you to make many raviolis in a short time. At this point flour your ravioli mold and lay over it the first piece of rolled dough. 

Put a little filling in each ravioli, cover with another sheet and press lightly with your hands, then slowly with a rolling pin until you see the flanges of the mold. Finally, turn the mold upside down on a cloth or on a large pan abundantly floured. Proceed in the same way with the rest of the dough, covering each layer of ravioli with abundant flour.

Prepare the sauce by dicing the swordfish and putting it in a pan with 3 tablespoons of hot olive oil and a little bit of chili powder. Season with salt and add the white wine. Cook for no more than a couple of minutes.Cook the ravioli in abundant hot salted water. Drain and season with the swordfish and the minced parsley. Enjoy it with a glass of cold Campanaro. You’ll love it!! 

Chocolate and Gianduia Tart

I don’t really remember when I started cooking and when I first realized I was loving it. My first cooking-related memory is from when I was 4 or 5 years old and my grandparents would take my sister Federica and me to their country house in Poggio Mirteto. There, in the garden my sister and I would prepare some kind of ‘soup’ with greens, soil, pebbles and, possibly, worms! I guess my sister was shocked (she hasn’t cooked anything else ever since) but I must have been inspired, probably more by my grandmother’s lasagna, apple cakes and crème caramel than by our dirt soups.

In any event, at a certain point I just realized what an important part of our life food is and how a well-cooked heartwarming dish can make people happier. To me, it is the cooking process itself, actually even the cooking planning, that is a source of sheer happiness. Looking for good recipes, thinking about new combinations of ingredients, shopping for the best products and then pulling out tools from my bottomless cabinet to me is just a lot of fun.  Also, spending hours in kitchen supply stores looking at tools and gadgets has always been a stress-relieving exercise.

Because of all the good they continue to bring into my life, I wish to share my recipes, little cooking tricks and food- or wine-related stories.

I am starting with a special treat. A chocolate and gianduia tart which has recently scored great points among my friends. Here we go!

CHOCOLATE AND GIANDUIA TART

FOR THE CRUST:

300 gr (0.66 lb) flour

50 gr (0.11 lb) dark cocoa powder

220 gr (0.5 lb) butter

130 gr (0.28 lb) sugar

2 egg yolks

vanilla essence

a pinch of salt

                                                   FOR THE FILLING

                                                   140 gr (0.30 lb) dark chocolate (at least 70%)

                                                   240 gr (0.53 lb) gianduia chocolate o gianduiotti (or Lindor)

                                                   6 dl (20 fl oz) heavy cream

                                                   4 egg yolks

                                                   120 gr (0.26 lb) sugar

Take the butter and the eggs out of the fridge one hour before starting the preparation of the crust. Thoroughly mix flour, cocoa powder, butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla in a bowl or on the kitchen counter until you have a uniform, smooth dough. You can use a mixer to prepare the crust pastry in order to speed up the process and avoid warming up the dough, but do not let the mixer run longer than necessary (a few seconds). If you are using a mixer you will need to knead the pastry with your hands just a few seconds to compact the dough. Make the dough ball-shaped and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. 

Start working on the filling by cutting the chocolate and the gianduia in pieces and melting them in a bain-marie. A bain-marie, for the hopefully few of you who do not know what that is, is a cooking technique consisting in putting the container with the food (in our case the chocolate and gianduia) into a bigger container half-filled with water on a heating burner.

Once the chocolates have melted add the sugar and stir for a couple of minutes. Pour in slowly the hot heavy cream, stirring to incorporate the cream gradually and maintain a creamy texture. If for any reason the mixture is not perfectly smooth you can pass it through a mesh strainer to eliminate any lump. Finally, incorporate the egg yolks and stir for a couple of minutes.

While the cream is still warm, roll out the dough thinly on a floured board with a rolling pin. I find that a silicone baking mat makes the process of transferring the rolled dough to the pan very easy.

Transfer the thinly rolled dough on a 10 or 11 inch baking pan. If you don’t feel very comfortable at the idea of removing the tart from the pan, you can use a pie dish or a springform pan (a hinged pan). Alternatively, to facilitate the process of removing the tart from the pan you can place a sheet of parchment paper between the pan and the rolled dough.

Pour the chocolate cream into the pan and bake the pie for about 45 minutes at 180ºC (350ºF). Check up on the cooking process every so often and lower the oven temperature if you see that the filling is boiling. Once the tart is cooked take it out of the oven and let it cool. When it’s cool take it out of the pan. You can serve the tart straight or with whipped cream. For an extra kick, you can add a little chili powder, walnuts or little pieces of candied ginger or orange zest.