A lot of people that enjoy cooking, don’t necessarily enjoy baking – chef’s included! In restaurants there are desserts that are the province of bakers and pastry chefs, and then yet another that are often called “cook’s desserts”. “Cook’s desserts” are those which aren’t terribly complicated, don’t need hours of preparation and can be done rather quickly…like crepes, bread pudding, custards, things of that nature. I think it’s always good to have a few “tricks up your sleeve” for spur of the moment entertaining. I thought I’d share with you one of those dessert magic acts so you too can have an impromptu dessert without a lot of work or ingredients.
Zabaglione (pronounced Za-Bi-YO-nay) is a classic Italian dessert that is also served as a sauce. In France or on French menus it would be called “Sabayon” and is sometimes done in a savory version as a sauce for seafood. Essentially Zabaglione is a sweetened whipped egg custard. In its most basic form it consists of only 3 items: egg yolks, sugar, liqueur/wine. Probably the most traditional is that which is made with sweet Marsala wine which produces a slightly nutty flavor in the sauce. I think it has the flavor of warm, soft, melty saltwater taffy in your mouth. It’s also easy to remember because a ratio of 1:1:1 works just fine. That would be 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon liqueur of choice. I recommend doing a 2 yolk batch simply because a 1 yolk batch is going to be hard to whip properly over the hot water bath. Better to do more than necessary than to end up curdling it or having it not as airy as it should be.
It is typically made right before serving, some upscale Italian restaurants will even prepare it tableside. There are a couple of options depending on your needs:
1) If you want it as more of a sauce and want it slightly warm, then you’ll need to whip and cook right before serving. In this case you can simply beat everything together up to the point of cooking and then keep in the refrigerator until ready to cook.
2) The secondary option is to whip and cook it ahead of time and then fold into some sweetened whipped cream that has also been lightly flavored with the same liqueur. Flavoring the whipped cream with the same liqueur will prevent the cream from diluting the flavor of the zabaglione. You can then layer it in some tall attractive glasses with fruit and/or cake to create a parfait or trifle style dessert.
Recently some friends and I were preparing dinner and we wanted something sweet but without a lot of work. The grocery store had ginger pound cake so we purchased one of those and picked up some pears. The pears were cored, sliced and tossed with a little honey (the host was out of sugar) and then put in the oven to roast. Once the pears were roasted we simply spooned those over the poundcake and topped it with zabaglione that I had made with honey (no sugar in the house) and Poire William (pear brandy). Voila! Dessert was served!
Zabaglione
Yield: 4 servings as sauce
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar (may also substitute honey)
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons liqueur of choice (Marsala, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Rum, Brandy)
Place egg yolks in a stainless steel bowl (about 3 quart) large enough to be set over a small to medium saucepan and have the sides extend over the edges of the pan (You’ll need to cook this over a hot water bath so you’ll need to be able to grasp the sides of the bowl). Add the sugar and a pinch of salt to the yolks and whisk vigorously until the mixture has formed a “ribbon”. It will be very light in color and thick, like cake batter. A ribbon is formed when you drop the mixture from the whisk back onto the rest of the mixture in the bowl and a streak remains on top for a slight bit before melting back into the rest of the mixture. After the mixture has formed a ribbon add the liqueur and whisk into the egg mixture to achieve an even liquid-like consistency. Scrape any sugar granules down from upper edges of the bowl.
Fill a small to medium sized saucepan with 1-inch of water. Place on the stove and bring water to a simmer. Once water is simmering, turn down slightly so there is not a lot of bubbling going on but steam is still being produced. Place the egg mixture over the pot of steaming water and whisk vigorously, removing periodically (continuing to whisk) to allow the bowl to cool slightly and prevent the eggs from cooking to quickly. The more air that is whisked into it during the initial cooking, the more frothy and light it will be. Continue whisking and removing from heat until it once again “forms a ribbon”. Once a ribbon has formed, drizzle sauce over fresh fruit, use to sauce a cake, or cool and fold with sweetened and flavored whipped cream as a mousse to be served in a glass with fresh fruit and some crisp cookies.