Dolce Speciali di Festas

In Italy, there are many holidays where there are special types of desserts or foods that are only available or at least more popularly sold around those holiday times. For example, at Christmas there is a high demand for like panettone. Panettone is a type of sweet bread that can have raisins or chocolate in it depending on how it's made. The more traditional way is with raisins. It originated from Milan, but now can be enjoyed all over Italy around Christmas time. However, I realized when I got here that they are only sold around Christmas time and once they run out, they don't sell them anymore until the next Christmas.

Another time when special desserts come out is around Carnevale. When carnevale occurs, there are a variety of special sweets that are known for this time of year and most of them are fried. Frittelle are lumps of wheat or rice-based dough made puffy by frying that date back to the 16th century. Another type of fried sweet is known by three different names (depending on what region you're in); it's called frappe in Rome, cenci in other regions, and chiacchiere in Venice. Whatever they call them, they are all made the same. They are long strips of crunchy fried dough topped with powdered sugar. In other regions of Italy there are also more sweets for Carnevale. In Emilia, there are ravioli-shaped fried pastries filled with jam, chestnuts, pumpkin, candied fruits, and many other ingredients. Another pastry that is very tasty (I tried this one) is called castagnole in central Italy like Rome and sfinci in Sicily. They are small balls of fried dough covered in honey. They can also be stuffed with custard or chocolate on the inside.

Frappe

Castagnole

Another holiday that brings out special cakes and desserts or other types of food is Easter. Around Easter time you can find a variety of desserts like colomba and giant chocolate eggs! Colomba is a leavened bread shaped like a dove and covered with sugar and almond glaze. It may also be topped with slivers of almonds as well. There are a variety of different types of cakes in other regions of Italy as well. These include pastiera from Naples and cassata in Sicily. Pastiera from Naples is a cake filled with boiled wheat grains, ricotta, candied fruits, and flavored with orange flower water. Cassata from Sicily is the sweet ricotta cheesecake.

Colomba

 

 

Pastiera

Cassata

Zippy Zabaglione

Zabaglione is an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, sweet wine (usually a marsala), and sometimes whole eggs. It is a very light custard, which has been whipped to incorporate a large amount of air. Zabaglione is traditionally served with fresh figs. Since the 1960's, in restaurants in U.S. areas where large Italian populations exist, zabaglione is usually served with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc. in a champagne glass.

Here is a simple recipe that can be easily reproduced:

Ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup Marsala wine
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Ground cinnamon
• Vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
• Strawberries, raspberries, or biscotti

Method

1 Place egg yolks, and sugar in a large, round-bottomed stainless steel bowl. Add grated lemon peel and a pinch of cinnamon and a drop of vanilla extract to the yolk mixture. Pour in the Marsala wine. You can use sweet Vermouth as a substitute for the Marsala.

2. Half-fill a pot with water, bring the water to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Set the pan or bowl containing the custard mixture over the water; the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Whisk the custard mixture, making sure that the water does not boil. This ensures that a gentle, even heat thickens the mixture without curdling it. Whisking traps air in the yolks for a light, fluffy mixture.

3. Continue whisking for about 10 minutes, until the mixture triples in volume, froths up and becomes pale. When it reaches the desired consistency, take the container of custard out of the pot. Slightly thickened, the custard can be used as a sauce. Longer cooking will thicken the custard further, giving it the texture of mousse. Continue whisking for a minute or two to prevent the custard from sticking to its container.

4. Serve the custard while still warm, or, if you want to serve it cool, set it aside for about 15 minutes. Whisk heavy cream until it forms soft peaks; add the whipped cream to the cooled custard and use a whisk to gently fold them together. Reserve some of the whipped cream to serve on top.
Ladle the zabaglione into individual dishes. Serve with whipped cream, berries, and/or cookies such as biscotti.