Carmelita’s Cookitaly

Zuppa Inglese

   

Emilia-Romagna's favourite sweet

This custard concoction of sunny cheerful colours is the most popular traditional dessert here, loved throughout the region: from Emilia, spreading west of Bologna, to Romagna to its east and of course in Bologna itself. It is now found in other regions too but nowhere else does it appear without fail on every restaurant menu. That this is its home and its place of origin is, for once, not contested.

The story goes that it originated sometime in the course of the 1500s in the kitchens of the rulers of Ferrara at the time, the Dukes of the Este family. They were leading patrons of the arts and under their rule in the Renaissance period the city enjoyed a long period of intense cultural and artistic activity. Besides encouraging musicians, poets and painters the Este family engaged in diplomatic activity to develop and maintain good relations with other powerful ruling families in Italy and in Europe. It is said that a courtier returning from diplomatic duties in England described a popular sweet served at the end of the banquets at the English court, the sweet today known as "trifle". He described its layers of custard, sponge and cream and the cooks of the Este court created the Zuppa Inglese inspired by his description.

This story does not entirely hold water as it would seem that the various dainty "little trifles" served in 16th and 17th century England had no trace of sponge cake. But it makes a pretty tale and suggests a plausible explanation of why the sweet is described as "Inglese", in other words, English.

Then there is the "Zuppa" part, which often confuses non-Italian speakers. The Italian verb "inzuppare" means "to dunk" or "to dip" or more generally to moisten something dry with some form of liquid. In this sweet, as in the much newer invention Tiramisù, sponge cake or lady finger biscuits are dipped into a liquid, making the resulting sweet a "zuppa".

There are savoury "Zuppe" too, usually thick stews of fish or meat served on a slice of toasted bread or else chunky soups containing cereals and legumes. The thing to remember is that the word "zuppa" in Italian does not translate as soup, and that it is often used to describe desserts.

But enough, on to the recipe for Italy's famous Zuppa, the "English" one from Emilia-Romagna.

 Zuppa Inglese

For 6 people you will need:

300g of lady finger biscuits ("Savoiardi") (10 and a half ounces or as many as fit in your container)

120g (4 ounces) sugar

30g (an ounce) flour 

500ml (a pint) milk 

5 egg yolks  

a vanilla pod (optional, but makes it special) 

50g (scant two ounces) chopped 70% cocoa chocolate 

a glass (cup) each of water and Alchermes liqueur  

(or substitute a liqueur of your choice or a diluted strawberry syrup for the traditional bright pink colour ) 

20g (1 and a half tablespoons) butter

optional sour cherry or sharp apricot jam

Set aside 100 ml (0.4 of a cup) of milk. Heat the rest with the sugar and the scraped out vanilla seeds till it comes to the boil.

Meanwhile, place the 5 yolks in a bowl and whisk them with the sifted flour, then still whisking, add the cold 100ml of milk gradually.

When the remaining milk has come to the boil and all the sugar is dissolved, add it gradually to the yolks while still whisking. Then place everything in the pan in which you boiled the milk and return to a moderate heat for about 10 minutes to thicken.

Whisk constantly and whisking patiently on low heat to bring the mixture almost to boiling point so that it thickens - the very fine bubbles on the surface will disappear when it is ready. Snatch it off the heat, and transfer to a cool bowl as soon as possible, as it can continue to cook and so curdle, .

Divide in two thirds and one third by pouring into two separate bowls - there is no need to be precise here. Add the chocolate, broken into bits, to the smaller amount and mix to melt the chocolate and blend well. Leave to cool.

Mix the water and Alchermes* together. Dip the lady fingers lightly in the liquid, and use make a layer at the bottom of one large or several small glass bowls. Place with the pink side facing the outside, so it is visible through the glass.

Now add a layer of the chocolate custard and if you wish carefully top with a very thin layer of sour cherry or apricot jam, dropping teaspoonfuls at regular intervals as it is impossible to spread the jam over the soft custard with a knife or spoon. If you like you can reserve some of the chocolate custard and place it in a piping bag or squeegee bottle to use for decorating the top.

Finish with a deeper layer of plain custard.

Refrigerate for  at least one hour before serving. For special occasions you could further garnish with one or more of whole sour cherries in syrup, grated chocolate and toasted flaked almonds.

* Today artificial colourings are used but originally the natural dye "Kermes" was used, hence the name which is clearly of Arabic origin.

Sangiovese di Romagna

One of the great things about living in Bologna is Sangiovese di Romagna.

This grape variety, which is said to have originated in the pretty small town of Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, near Rimini, is the great red grape of much of central Italy. Sangiovese di Romagna is made with the same grape varietal as Umbria's Sagrantino di Montefalco and as Tuscany's Chianti, Morellino and Brunello. In fact there's an Italian expression meaning "it's all the same" which goes "Se non è Chianti è Sangiovese " or "If it's not Chianti it's Sangiovese".

I take my cooking class guests to the wonderful Enoteca Italiana, less than a minute's walk from my place, to get advice on what wines to match with the dishes we make. The Enoteca has been selected as Best Enoteca in Italy not once but twice so it is a fantastic resource on my doorstep. The experienced sommeliers there tell me that the Sangiovese grape expresses itself differently according to the territory: it is elegant in Montalcino, potent and powerful in the Tuscan Maremma, austere in the Chianti area, rich and fruity in Romagna. They also tell me that the Sangiovese di Romagna is one of the best and best value reds on the Italian market today. For which I am grateful!

Being a wine lover but not a wine expert, I was pleased to find this short blog post to share with you. It speaks of the pleasures to be had when drinking one of the many excellent Sangiovese di Romagna of this "obscure region" - the last is the author's description and one with which I stongly disagree!

The post is HERE  I hope you enjoy it.

Pomegranate braised Rooster - Galletto alla Melograna

           

I decided to cook this because my fruit seller gave me a huge heavy pomegranate as a New Year's good luck gift.

I thought about making my usual Guinea Hen dish with it but my butcher recommended I buy his fresh free range "galletto" instead. The Guinea Hen recipe assumes a wild bird, and requires a marinade of lemon juice, black peppercorns and juniper berries, and at the end it is finished with a little cream, but this juicy young bird did not need any of that I decided. Keep it simple and let the flavour of the bird shine through.

My finish would be some fresh pomegranate seeds or arils, to add some tartness and that delicious juice popping texture to the tender meat and the thick slightly caramelised shallot-enriched pan syrup.

Here's the recipe:

For 2 people you need:

A small young rooster, free range ideally - Cornish game hen will do instead, or even chicken thighs
A heavy large ripe pomegranate
A shallot
Extra virgin Olive Oil, salt, pepper

Prepare the rooster
If your butcher has not done it for you, cut the rooster into 4 pieces.
Check for feathers and if necessary singe over a flame, then rub off.
Wash and pat the pieces as dry as possible or your oil will really splatter!

Prepare the shallot
Mince it as fine as you possibly you can: use a mandolin if you have one, then chop, chop, chop.

Prepare the pomegranate
Extract all the arils and juice about two thirds of them - reserve the rest to add at the end of cooking time

To cook the dish

Heat up 2 tablespoons of evo oil in a skillet, ideally non stick
Place the rooster quarters skin side down and brown over high heat at first, then turn the heat down and let them brown slooooowly. High heat only toughens the fibres of meat (and fish) while long slow browning keeps the bird moist.
After 20 minutes or so, remove the rooster pieces to a plate and tip out excess oil but do not scrape up the sticky bits of brown deliciousness yet.
Add the shallot to the pan with a tablespoon of water and let it soften, then return the rooster to the pan and season generously with salt and pepper.
Add the beautiful pomegranate juice to the skillet, scrape up those yummy bits, turn the heat to very low, cover and leave to cook about 50 minutes.
Do check and add liquid from time to time - you want the pan juices to reduce to a treacly, slightly sticky sauce at the end but keep enough moisture in the pan while you braise, you can always reduce further at the end.
Test the meat by giving it a light poke with your finger - it should be yielding, promising you tender succulence.
Now add the reserved whole arils and stir together with the rooster quarters and pan juices for a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning and adjust the sauce by adding water or reducing until it is as you like it, then serve with a plain steamed vegetable.