Tiramisu, The Italian Deli Cookbook: 100 Glorious Recipes Celebrating the Best of Italian Ingredients by Theo Randall. Photography by Lizzie Mayson.
The Italians have taken the very best of Italian produce all over the world. From Hong Kong to London, Sydney to Brooklyn, people everywhere have access to a treasure trove of ingredients through Italian delicatessens.
Theo Randall’s Italian Deli Cookbook showcases delicious family recipes using favourite ingredients. Easily accessible in supermarkets now too, and worth paying a little extra for the very best, these are transformative ingredients that can make for easy lunches and suppers, or dinner party centrepieces.
With 100 recipes using cured meats, smoked fish, jarred vegetables, vinegars, olives, pasta, pulses, cheeses and wine, stunning photography throughout, and original, simple recipes, as well as a directory of classic delicatessens worldwide, elevate your cooking the easy way with the expert guidance of world-renowned chef Theo Randall.
The Italian Deli Cookbook: 100 Glorious Recipes Celebrating the Best of Italian Ingredients is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca.
Tiramisu
Everyone loves tiramisu, but I find so often it can be a bit heavy and watery. With so few ingredients, it needs great care to perfect: it should be light and have a strong, slightly sweet coffee flavour. The inspiration for this recipe is rather unusual in tiramisu terms.
There is a wonderful pizzeria in Antigua called Famous Mauro’s Pizza—the best pizzeria in the Caribbean. Here, Mauro cooks the pizzas every day in his perfect, wood-burning oven. My favourite is sfizioso, meaning ‘delicious,’ which it certainly is. It’s a simple pizza with tomato, mozzarella and lots of large-leaf rocket (arugula), then covered with a generous quantity of thinly sliced prosciutto di Parma.
On each table is Mauro’s homemade chilli sauce and bouquet of fresh basil to eat with your pizza. He makes his tiramisu daily, too, but in small quantities, so we tend to order one or two portions when we arrive, just to be sure. It has the perfect balance of coffee to mascarpone. Thank you Mauro!
Serves 6
100g (31⁄2oz) caster (superfine) sugar
4 organic eggs, separated 500g (1lb 2oz) mascarpone
125ml (41⁄2fl oz) cold, strong black coffee
50ml (13⁄4fl oz) sweet Marsala
300g (101⁄2oz) savoiardi biscuits
50g (13⁄4oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
Add the sugar and egg yolks to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on a medium speed for about 4 minutes, until the mixture is pale. Add the mascarpone and beat for a further 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the mascarpone mixture until fully combined, light and creamy.
Combine the coffee and Marsala in a shallow dish. One by one, dip one-third of the savoiardi biscuits into the liquid and use them to line the bottom of a medium-sized, deep serving dish. Using a spatula, spread one-third of the mascarpone mixture on top to create an even layer. Repeat this layering process twice more. Sift over the cocoa powder and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Hardie Grant Books.