Saturday, May 19, 2007


tiramisu with giuliano hazan

so today's a rather cold and rainy day, quite unseasonable. i felt like i needed dessert on such a gray day.

hmm. . . but i also feel really, really lazy and unmotivated. i needed an easy, inexpensive but superfun situation.

and thus i hit upon giuliano hazan's tiramisu. now it's possible to buy cheap tiramisu made with cookies, sugar syrup, coffee flavoring and whipped topping at the supermarket for about US$3.50 a serving.

i don't think it has any real marscapone in it, or not very much; it's mostly whipped stuff. giuliano's recipe calls for the usual: savoiardi (some people prefer stale poundcake), left-over french press or moka pot coffee, whipped cream, eggs, mascarpone, liqueur.

my darling husband got into the idea and actually braved the drizzle to dash into sahadi's for the mascarpone and the savoiardi. there – everyone knows mr. sahadi has the best prices in all nyc – you can get the required package of real italian balocco savoiardi for just US$1.66!

imported polenghi mascarpone is now unfortunately US$7.75 for 8 oz., but that's the effing euro for you nowadays. those without access to mascarpone or who aren't as lazy as i'm feeling today can make their own at home with ease; it just takes some time to drain.

people usually have eggs about and all the rest, so those are no big deal.

but! let me do the math anyway. the cost is considerably heightened by my personal choice to always use organic, cage-free, field-raised eggs; if you're not so worried about that, the cost can be much less.

ok, so doing my math, i think an 8" x 8" x 2" pan of tiramisu costs US$15 to make at home. if you figure 8 servings, that's US$1.88 a serving.

very affordable even with my luxurious premium ingredients, such as all the fancy stuff above, not to mention the 43 and flor de cana dark rum. the classic recipe calls for strega and rum, but i just didn't happen to have any strega at home. . .so i winged it.

and heaven knows home-made tiramisu's easy: whip 1/2 cup cream in the stand mixer; beat 4 egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar, liqueur, all the mascarpone; dip the cookies in your leftover coffee, and layer all that in the dish.

sprinkle cocoa powder on top and chill. 8 hours later: heaven.

it really is better the next day, but it never makes it; you'll actually be lucky if you can manage to keep it for 4 hours, i think, before everyone descends on it like locusts.

(and yes, cindy chang, that is still the bottle of flor de cana you so kindly gave me!)

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