Another Sunday and another great recipe by Gina De Palma. This is the latest stage in the Sunday Slow Bakers' exploration of Dolce Italiano by Gina De Palma. Krista came up with the notion that it might be interesting to get a group of folks together to bake and blog each week. This week's recipe was selected by Nancy who though that it would be a good selection for when the temperatures rose to the point that turing on the oven was painful!
Semifreddo is an Italian word that refers to a class of semi-frozen desserts, typically ice-cream cakes, semi-frozen custards, and certain fruit tarts. It also refers to an ice cream sandwich, in which the bread may be a lightly toasted croissant. The word means "half cold" in Italian. It has the texture of frozen mousse. Such a dessert's Spanish counterpart is called semifrío. In Italian cuisine, the Semifreddo is commonly made with gelato as a primary ingredient.
While the recipe calls for tangerines it was impossible for me to find them so I used oranges and the results were very good. The one thing I would do differently next time would be to bring the marscapone cheese to room temperature and beat it first. I found that whipping the cream and marscapone cheese together never incorporated the marscapone completely leaving small bits of white in the otherwise dark chocolately semifreddo.
CHOCOLATE TANGERINE SEMIFREDDO
(semifreddo di cioccolato e mandarino)
Makes 6-8 servings
For the Semifreddo:
2 tangerines
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons amaretto
4 large egg yolks
4 ounces chocolate wafer cookies, ground (such as Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup mascarpone
Chopped pistachios, for garnish
For the Chocolate Tangerine Sauce:
1 tangerine
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons Triple Sec or other orange-flavored liqueur
To make the semifreddo: Zest the tangerines and squeeze them. Reserve 3/4 cup juice and set the zest aside.
Place the chocolate, cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, and tangerine juice in small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will bubble and then begin to thicken; continue cooking until it is almost the consistency of pudding, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the tangerine zest and amaretto. Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes and transfer it to a large mixing bowl.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, use the whisk attachment to beat together the egg yolks and the remaining 3/4 cup sugar on medium speed until light-colored and thick, about 2 minutes. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture. Fold in the chocolate wafer crumbs.
Clean the bowl and the whisk attachment and whip the heavy cream with the mascarpone at high speed until it is thick and softly peaking. Gently fold the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture.
Pour the semifreddo into a loaf pan or another freezable container and press plastic wrap on the surface. Freeze for at least 6 hours, or until firm.
Before serving, make the chocolate tangerine sauce: Zest the tangerine and squeeze it until you have 1 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice.
Place the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Pour in the boiling water and allow the ingredients to sit for 30 seconds, then whisk them together until smooth. Whisk in the heavy cream, corn syrup, tangerine zest, Triple Sec, and tangerine juice.
To Serve: Scoop the semifreddo into individual bowls, or unmold then whole semifreddo by dipping the pan in hot water and inverting it over a plate and then slice it into portions with a hot thin-bladed knife. Drizzle each serving with some of the warm sauce and sprinkle with chopped pistacios.
The sauce can be made ahead of time and kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3 days. Before serving, heat in the microwave or the top of a double boiler.
You can check out what the other slow bakers have come up with at their blogs (although I do believe some are travelling this week):
Destination Anywhere
In and Out of the Garden
My Place in the Sun
Palmabella's Passions
Postcards From the Trail
Whistlestop Cafe Cooking
Baked Alaska
I'm also happy to see that for this recipe we didn't have to turn on the oven. With highs at 112 we are getting close to frying an egg on the sidewalk. The semifreddo is my latest favorite from Gina's book. I think my all-time favorite so far is the Grappa mini sponge cake.
Posted by: María I. | June 30, 2008 at 01:50 PM
They get even better over time. I had some left over so I left them in the freezer until last Sunday - WOW - very nice!
Posted by: Jerry | July 12, 2008 at 08:51 PM