Semifreddo with amaretti and tonka beans' syrup

Hi, I haven’t been writing for so long: 2013 has been a very special year for us. We relocated in a new house and worked so hard to make it suitable for the Cookery School,  after that I had a very busy summer season as a private chef (I feel so lucky to cook for such lovely people as all of my clients are). So at Fall I felt like emptied but now  here I am and I wish you all a very belated Happy New Year.

What I'm going to propose you a very easy yet delicious dessert: technically this isn’t a Semifreddo as the real one contains eggs but on my Birthday I invited some friends for lunch and I woke up late in the morning so I had just a little time to make a dessert. Happily I had some Tonka Beans’ Syrup already made and Candied Orange Peels which are things you can prepare in advance and stock in your pantry: they are always useful.

This Semifreddo is composed of cream at 30% of fat and mascarpone but you can make it also with a double cream ( 40 % of fat) . Then I added some Torrone, the hard  kind not the smooth one and Amaretti . But you can change completely the recipe by putting in chocolate chips and candied ginger for example or dates etc…..and you can use a ginger syrup instead of Tonka: just change the Tonka with a spoon of  chopped ginger and proceed the same way.

A frozen whipped cream like this is even better than an ice-cream, it keeps smooth and creamy and you just need to take it off the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

Ingredients for 8/10 servings, fills a mould of 18cm of diameter and 10 cm high  ( aprox a 2 liters mould that can be also a rectangular one, I just measured with some water)

600 ml of cream 30% fat

500 gr of mascarpone ( or 1,1 liter  of double cream)

150 ml of Tonka syrup

A pinch of salt ( very little one, I used fleur de sel only a few grains)

100 gr of Torrone

1 tbs od candied orange peels

1 tbs of candied ginger

200 gr of Amaretti ( you can find them in an Italian grocery)

1 cup of coffe

 ¼ a cup of rhum

To make the Syrup

6 Tonka Beans

500 gr of crystal sugar

400 gr of water 

Proceeding

First of all it’s better to start with the syrup: I rather tend to make a quantity because it’s easier and it keeps long stored in the fridge: you can use it on yoghurt or even add it in a cup of coffee. Tonka Beans have a fabulous, scrumptious flavour between vanilla and bitter almonds. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it if you don't already know!

Put the water and sugar in a pan with the beans, stir to dissolve the sugar and let simmering as long as it makes equal bubbles on the surface and has the texture of liquid honey ( it will take between 30/45 minutes but if you leave on a very low heat you won’t have to bother about it) then let it cool.

Once the syrup cooled you can start with the Semifreddo: to whip such a quantity of cream you’ll need a Kenwood or a Kitchen-Aid otherwise you can make the half  of it and you'll have 4 /5 servings. Prepare a cup of coffee for the Amaretti, then fold the mould with a film so that you can unmould easily ( I didn’t and I regretted)

Make sure your cream, mascarpone and the bowl are really cold and then pour in the bowl the cream, the pinch of salt, the syrup and whisk till it makes soft peaks and it’s rather thick but not too much. Then add the Torrone ( I put a link but it's not a sponsor ), the orange peels and ginger chopped and the amaretti crushed (they crush very easily I used a mortar) mix very gently with a spatula and pour half of the cream in the mould, even it with a spatula then soak the amaretti into coffee-rhum and make a layer, then fill the mould with the rest and put in the freezer till it’s frozen (approx. 3 / 4 hours for this size) The good thing is that you can prepare it the day before or even two. Take it off 15 mn before serving, unmould on a plate, soak the Amaretti into coffee-rhum and use for decoration. I made the recipe with a small amount of sugar so that you can pour some additional syrup on the top for a very decadent look.

Semifreddo al Radicchio di Treviso

Un dessert con il Radicchio di Treviso
Dopo la visita a Lorenzo siam tornati in Provenza con un bel po di Radicchio Tardivo e cosi ieri sera abbiamo invitato degli amici per una cena all’insegna del Radicchio dall’inizio alla fine ( con doppio dessert ...)
Menu della serata :
Spritz con crostini al guanciale
Risotto al Radicchio
Millefoglie di zucca ,radicchio e capretto " confit"
Insalata di tre radicchi ( Verona rosa ,Treviso e Castelfranco)
Semifreddo di Radicchio
Frittelle al Radicchio

La ricetta del semifreddo l'ho trovata qui anche se il libro é ormai difficile da reperire .Ho fatto alcune variazioni al’’originale e questa é la mia versione: é un dessert delicato e leggero, la dolcezza soave della base si sposa con l’amaro appena percettibile del Radicchio e la croccantezza del cioccolato.
Ingredienti :
150 gr di Radicchio Tardivo di Treviso( nell’originale era il Castelfranco )
2 albumi
130 gr di zucchero
20 gr d'acqua
250 gr di panna fresca
50 gr di cioccolato fondente al 70% ( io avevo ancora un po di quello di Modica )
Un pizzico di sale
Un pizzico di Pepe Lungo pestato al mortaio
Tagliate il radicchio in piccoli pezzi e fatelo brasare in una padella con 20 gr di zucchero fino a che sarà ben asciutto. Lasciate raffreddare . In un pentolino mettete il restante zucchero con 20 gr d’acqua ,fate bollire fino alla temperatura di 121° ( vi servirà un termometro ) nel frattempo montate i albumi a neve ben ferma con il pizzico di sale (data la quantità esigua sconsiglio la planetaria , meglio il normale frullino elettrico ) .Una volta montati agggiungete a filo lo sciroppo bollente( calcolare bene i tempi ...) e continuare a montare fino a raffreddamento .
Otterrete la cosidetta  Meringa Italiana (nella ricetta originale erano solo bianchi montati con lo zucchero ma non amo usare le uova crude nei dessert ). A questo punto incorporate alla meringa il radicchio , il cioccolato a scaglie il pepe e la panna montata ben soda ,amalgate bene il tutto con delicatezza per non smontare , versatela preparazione in stampini di silicone da porzione ( otterrete circa 8 porzioni ) e mettete nel congelatore .

Lo sciroppo di Radicchio
200 gr di zucchero
60 gr d’acqua
50 gr di Radicchio
Mettete tutti gli ingredienti nel pentolino , fate andare a fuoco non troppo forte fino ad avere uno sciroppo abbastanza denso .Lasciate raffreddare
Per servire : sformate il semifreddo su un piatto da dessert e versate attorno e sopra un po di sciroppo .