Struffoli Recipe

 

IF YOU’VE NEVER ENCOUNTERED STRUFFOLI BEFORE, they are best described—visually at any rate—as the croquembouche of southern Italy: small dough balls, and I mean really small, the size of marbles, that are deep-fried and then rolled in honey before being assembled into a cone—as in the French piled-up profiteroles model—or a bulging wreath. Since I was taught the recipe by a pair of Calabrian sisters, I make mine as their mamma makes hers; and this takes the wreath form.

Ingrediedients

• 2 TABLESPOONS SEMOLINA
• 6 EGGS
• 1 TABLESPOON SUGAR
• ZEST 1 UNWAXED LEMON, FINELY GRATED
• 2 TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL
• 3–3⅓ CUPS FLOUR, PLUS MORE FOR ROLLING
• ½ TEASPOON BAKING POWDER
• 2½–3 QUARTS FLAVORLESS VEGETABLE OIL, FOR FRYING
• 1½ CUPS HONEY
• APPROX. 2 TEASPOONS CHRISTMAS SPRINKLES, TO DECORATE

Method

1. Get out a large, rimmed baking sheet and shake the semolina over the base. And get out another tray (it doesn’t have to be a baking sheet) and line it with a double layer of paper towels. Set both aside while you get on with the dough.
2. Beat the eggs, sugar, finely grated lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil until frothy.
3. Gradually add about 2⅔ cups of the flour and the baking powder, and mix to a dough. If it is too sticky, then add more flour and keep kneading, using either your hands or a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook, until you have a smooth, pliable dough. This doesn’t take very long: probably around 3 minutes or 5 by hand.
4. Flour your work surface and turn out your dough. Then divide the dough into 10 roughly equal pieces, each about the size of a golf ball. Take 1 ball and roll it into a rope approx. ½ inch thick, then with floury hands divide this into about 20 small pieces, and roll each piece between your hands (flouring them again if this helps) to make marble-sized balls. Place the formed balls of dough on the semolina-sprinkled baking sheet, as you shape them. Repeat the process with the remaining golf-ball-sized portions of dough: you should make a staggering 200 of the tiny balls!
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide, heavy pan—about 11 inches diameter and at least 6 inches deep—and then when the oil is at 375°F but no higher (you can leave a preserving or candy thermometer in, if you want), or a piece of bread sizzles and browns immediately when dropped in the pan, you can begin to cook the dough balls. Regulate the temperature and keep a careful eye on the pan and the oil all the time.
6. Gently lower, using a mesh scoop or perforated spoon, about 15 little dough balls at a time. At first they will sink and then, as they cook, they’ll float to the surface and begin to turn golden brown. This will take up to about 1 minute depending on how many you have in at a time, but be ready to fish them out with your mesh scoop or perforated spoon onto the paper towel–lined tray as soon as they become the right golden color. And keep watching your pan.
7. Continue to cook them in batches—making sure the oil returns to the correct temperature but doesn’t get too hot or bubble too vigorously—until they are all fried; you can pile them up on the tray without harm. Now turn off the heat under the oil pan, and move on to the adhesive and assembly stage.
8. Pour the honey into a roasting pan that can go on the stove, and heat very gently until it becomes runny—a matter of moments, so do not leave the pan—then take it off the heat.
9. Tip all of the fried dough balls into the warmed honey and, using a soft spatula, turn them gently to coat them. Get out a large plate or cake stand with a slight lip or rim and, with wet hands, check the balls are not too hot then pick up the sticky balls and arrange them around the outer edge of the plate in the shape of a bobbly wreath, leaving just a small empty circle in the middle. Do not worry about symmetry or perfection or counting dough balls here, please.
10. Wash the honey from your hands and shake your chosen sprinkles over the sticky wreath, then stand back and admire, before placing your creation where others can do likewise. These strufoli are best, to my mind, eaten on the day they’re made. Use a scoop or spoon and fork to serve. It will be a sticky affair, but that’s part of their charm.

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Chocolate Salami Recipe

  It’s quick to make and there is no cooking involved. You can enrich the recipe by adding anything you like such as raisins, nuts, almonds etc. (I’ve added Turkish delight & coconut flakes). It takes only 15-20 minutes to prepare but the rolls need to be refrigerated for a few hours. I remember as kids, my brother and I could never wait for them to cool properly. Try it once and you’ll be hooked. I guarantee it!
Ingrediedients

• 9 OUNCES GOOD-QUALITY BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE (MIN. 62% COCOA SOLIDS), ROUGHLY CHOPPED
• 9 OUNCES AMARETTI COOKIES (CRUNCHY NOT MORBIDI) OR GRAHAM CRACKERS
• 7 TABLESPOONS SOFT UNSALTED BUTTER
• ¾ CUP SUPERFINE SUGAR
• 3 EGGS
• 2 TABLESPOONS AMARETTO LIQUEUR
• 2 TABLESPOONS UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER
• ½ CUP RAW ALMONDS (UNSKINNED), ROUGHLY CHOPPED
• ½ CUP HAZELNUTS, ROUGHLY CHOPPED
• ⅓ CUP UNSALTED SHELLED PISTACHIO NUTS, ROUGHLY CHOPPED
• 1–2 TABLESPOONS CONFECTIONERS’ SUGAR, TO DECORATE

 

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Method

1. In the microwave (following manufacturer’s instructions), or in a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water (but not touching the water), melt the chocolate until smooth. While the chocolate’s melting, put the crackers into a resealable bag, seal, and bash them with a rolling pin until you have a bag of rubble—not dust. When the chocolate’s melted, remove it to a cold place (not the refrigerator) and set aside to cool.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together; I do this in a freestanding mixer, but you don’t have to. You just need to use a large bowl and make sure the mixture is soft and superlight.
3. Gradually, and one by one, beat in the eggs. (Don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled at this stage: all manner of ills will be righted once the chocolate is added later.) Then beat in the amaretto liqueur.
4. Push the cocoa powder through a little strainer into the cooled chocolate and, with a small rubber spatula, stir till combined, then beat this into the egg mixture, too.
5. When you have a smooth chocolate mixture in front of you, tip in the chopped nuts and crushed graham crackers. Fold these in firmly but patiently to make sure everything is chocolate covered. Transfer this mixture, still in its bowl, to the refrigerator to firm up a bit for 20–30 minutes. Don’t leave it for much longer than this or it will be difficult to get out of the bowl to shape.
6. Unroll and slice off 2 large pieces of plastic wrap, overlapping them, so that you have a large wrap-covered surface to roll the chocolate salami out on. Tip the chocolate mixture out in the middle of this and—using your hands, messy though this is—mold the mixture into a fat salami-like log, about 12 inches long.
7. Cover the chocolate log completely with the plastic wrap, and then firmly roll it, as if it were a rolling pin, to create a smooth, rounded cylinder from the rough log you started with. Twist the ends by grasping both ends of the plastic wrap and rolling the sausage log toward you several times. Then put it in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours—though preferably overnight—to set.
8. Now—once it’s set—for the exciting bit: tear off a large piece of parchment paper and lay it on a clear kitchen surface. Take the salami out of the refrigerator and sit it on the paper. Measure out a piece of string at least 6 times longer than the length of the salami, and tie one end of the string firmly around the twisted knot of plastic wrap at one end of the salami. Then trim away as much plastic wrap as you can, but without cutting either of the tapered, nose ends, so that you can attach the string to these.
9. Dust your hands with a little confectioners’ sugar and then rub 2 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar (more if needed) over the unwrapped salami to stop it getting sticky as you string it up. Plus it makes it look more like a salami!
10. Make a loop with the string, a little wider than the salami, and feed it over the end of the salami, close to where it is tied on. Pull on the trailing end to tighten (but not too tightly) and form another loop of string as before. Work this second loop around the sausage, 1½ inches or so farther along from the first, tighten again, and repeat until you reach the far end of the salami, then tie the string firmly round the other twisted nose of plastic wrap.
11. With your remaining length of string, start to feed it back along the salami, twisting it around the encircling string each time it crosses a loop, then tie it again when you come to the end. Repeat these lengths as many times as you want, to make the authentic-looking pattern, but two or three times would be enough to get the effect.
12. Transfer it to a wooden board, and cut some slices, fanning them out as if they were indeed slices of salami, leaving a knife on the board, too, for people to cut further slices, as they wish. Obviously, when you cut the salami, you will cut through the string, but the many knots and twists keep it securely tied. Serve refrigerator cold, or very near to it.

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Cappuccino Pavlova Recipe

 

Ingrediedients

• 1¼ CUPS SUPERFINE SUGAR
• 4 TEASPOONS INSTANT ESPRESSO POWDER (NOT INSTANT COFFEE GRANULES)
• 4 EGG WHITES
• PINCH SALT
• 2 TEASPOONS CORNSTARCH
• 1 TEASPOON WHITE WINE VINEGAR
• 1¼ CUPS HEAVY CREAM
• 1 TEASPOON GOOD-QUALITY UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER
• • 1¼ CUPS SUPERFINE SUGAR
  • 4 TEASPOONS INSTANT ESPRESSO POWDER (NOT INSTANT COFFEE GRANULES)
  • 4 EGG WHITES
  • PINCH SALT
  • 2 TEASPOONS CORNSTARCH
  • 1 TEASPOON WHITE WINE VINEGAR
  • 1¼ CUPS HEAVY CREAM
  • 1 TEASPOON GOOD-QUALITY UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER
   Method
  

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a large baking with parchment paper and—if it helps—using a 9-inch cake pan as a guide—draw a circle on it with a pencil.
  2. In a smallish bowl, mix the sugar with the instant espresso powder, and set aside for the moment.
  3. In a clean, grease-free bowl, preferably metal (and wipe the inside with a piece of paper towel dipped in vinegar first, if you want) whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are holding soft peaks and keep whisking while you gradually add the sugar-coffee mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time.
  4. When all this mixture is incorporated and you have a firm, gleaming écru-colored meringue, fold in—using a grease-free metal spoon—the cornstarch and vinegar.
  5. Dollop large spoonfuls of the meringue mixture inside the drawn circle (or make a circle shape freehand if you prefer) on the parchment paper, and smooth and shape it with a spatula so that it looks rather like the crown of a straw boater hat: it must be flat on top.
  6. Put this in the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 300°F, and cook for 1 hour. The meringue’s outer shell should be crisp, but only just. When it’s ready, turn off the oven and leave the Pavlova base inside it until it’s cool.
  7. Once the Pavlova base is cool, lift it carefully in its paper and place it, top-side down, on a large, flat plate, then gently peel off the paper.
  8. Whip the heavy cream until thickened and airy, but still soft, and spread this delicately over the top (which previously was the bottom) of the meringue. With a teaspoon, push the cocoa powder through a fine strainer to decorate—cappuccino-style—the top.
   

 

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