Tiramisu..A Light Delight

Anytime is perfect time for this timeless dessert- Tiramisu. It literally means ‘pick me up’ in Italian. And it is truly a pick me up with chocolate and coffee together. It is typically eaten as a snack with an espresso in the afternoon, but also for dessert after a meal.
The original version is really heavy on the calories if you use the ultra creamy mascarpone cheese. Since SPring & Summer are times of the year typical for using light fresh foods- I have created for you here a lighter way to enjoy Tiramisu. I think you will enjoy it just as much and will be happy not to have to burn the extra calories.

Tiramisu (light version)
(copyright, 2005,2006,2007, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking, Maria Liberati)

*16 ounce package of savoiardi or ladyfingers
*1 cup espresso coffee with 1 tablespoon sugar or 2 packets of artificial sweetener
*powdered cocoa
*1 tsp amaretto or anisette liqueur
*16 ounces of fat free coffee flavored yogurt
*small piece of dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa)

Place espresso coffee with 1 tblsp of sugar or 2 packets of artificial sweetener in shallow bowl. Wet each ladyfinger in the coffee mixture for about 2 seconds. Then arrange biscotti-side by side to on a plate.
Place yogurt in bowl, place in liqueur if desired and blend with spoon. Spread about 3/4 of yogurt mixture on top of ladyfingers. Repeat again and top with ladyfingers and then top with remaining yogurt mixture. Place in refrigerator for at least one hour. Right before serving, dust with powdered cocoa and shave some dark chocolate on top.

Don’t forget to find more recipes and write to us at www.marialiberati.com
Find more recipes and articles

San Valentino and dinner pe due

Romantic Dinner Menu for Two
Copyright 2008- Maria Liberati, art of living, PrimaMedia,Inc.
THE BASIC ART OF ITALIAN COOKING, Holidays & Special Occasions


Cocktail : Tintoretto
½ cup Prosecco Spumante (or a Spumante)
¼ cup pomegranate juice
Divide Spumante-evenly- among 2 champagne glasses. Top each glass with pomegranate juice –evenly divided among two glasses. Don’t stir- two colors of each liquid will provide two different colors or layers.
Antipasto: Bruschetta Gratinate
¼ pound of reduced fat fontina or Swiss or baby Swiss cheese
3 leaves of fresh arugula
1 large or 2 small very ripe tomatoes
4 slices of crusty Italian bread (can be day old)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tsp of Sapori D’Italia herbs- Tuscan Picnic blend (by Maria Liberati’s The Basic Art of Italian Cooking)

Cut fontina or Swiss cheese into small slices or small cubes. Wash and dry tomatoes, cut into small cubes and eliminate seeds. Wash and dry arugula and chop finely. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place bread slices on cookie sheet, drizzle with 1 tsp of olive oil and sprinkle spice blend on top. Place in oven till slices begin to get crusty and turn golden- for about 1 minute.

Remove from oven. Layer remaining ingredients in this way: First place cheese cubes or slices, then chopped arugula, then tomatoes. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and remaining ½ tsp of spice blend. Place under broiler of oven till cheese begins to bubble. Broiler times vary- should be 1-4 minutes depending on broiler.

First Course: Linguine alle Vongole
(Clams with linguine)
1/3 box or 1/3 pound of linguine.
2 tblsps of extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil
2 clove of garlic-whole
½ lb of fresh steamed clams
½ lemon (to squeeze over finished pasta)
Handful of fresh parsley

Fill pasta pot with water and small handful of kosher or gross salt. Place on medium heat.
Place olive oil in large sauté pan. Place in peeled, whole clove of garlic (if you leave garlic in whole pieces the garlic will give the clams a flavor but the flavor will not be an extremely intense one-‘if you don’t want to have garlic on the breath’. If you don’t care about garlic odor then by all means chop it finely). Sate garlic over medium low heat until oil starts to form bubbles and garlic begins to get golden color. Place in clams and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring the clams every so often to distribute the flavors. Remove from heat. Sprinkle in the freshly chopped parsley. Stir for about one minute.
Place pasta in boiling water according to package directions (about 10 minutes). Taste before draining to be sure pasta is done to your liking. Drain in colander. When water is drained off place in saucepan with clam sauce and toss with pasta pincer till pasta is coated. Squeeze ½ lemon over pasta and toss. Place in individual serving dishes

Can be served with dry white wine – 1small glass



Second Course : Pepperoni Imbottiti
(Stuffed peppers)
1/4 cup cannelloni beans
1 tables minced onion
2 taps of fresh garlic minced finely
1 cans tuna (6 ounces)
1 tblsp of extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Juice of ½ small lemon
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley
½ tsp Sapori D’Italia spice -Tuscan blend

Drain tuna can. Place tuna in large bowl and flake. Then add in beans, 3 tsps olive oil, garlic, onions, spice blend (leave a pinch behind to bake peppers), lemon juice. Toss.
Take whole peppers, cut of tops and clean out seeds and inside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place peppers standing on glass or ceramic baking baking dish. Drizzle with 1 tsp of olive oil and a pinch of the spice blend. Place in oven for approx 20 minutes or until tender.

Remove from oven, let cool and scoop in tuna mixture. Divide evenly between both peppers. Serve cool or while peppers are still warm. In the summer you may want to try serving this with raw peppers. This makes a wonderful picnic dish also.



Dolce : Fragole con Limone
(Dessert course: Strawberries with Lemon)
1 pound of fresh ripe strawberries
1 fresh lemon
1 handful fresh mint
1 tblsp sugar or 3 packets artificial sweetener
(Optional- 1/4 cup red wine)

Make this dessert about 1 hour before dinner so that the lemon juice and sugar have a chance to marinade the fruit>

Wash and hull strawberries. Cut each strawberry in quarters. If you are using the baby strawberries (fragolini- little strawberries) you can leave them whole.

Place in serving bowl. Cut lemon in half, with fork incised into lemon half (use both halves). Squeeze juice over strawberries- taking out any seeds. Sprinkle sugar on top. If you want t add in red wine-do so now. Stir and toss so strawberries are coated well with juice and cover bowl, refrigerate for about 1 hour.

When ready to serve, garnish with mint leaves on the top of the individual serving dish.


After Dinner Drink: Caffe Dolce e Speziata
(Spicy Dessert Coffee)
2 cups hot espresso coffee
2 tsps artificial sweetener or sugar
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cinnamon
2 tblsps of light whipped cream

Place hot coffee in individual espresso serving cups
Stir in sweetener, top each cup with pinch of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg and then 1 tblsp of light whipped cream.








Other useful tips:
*Even though olive oil is very good for you, you may want to lessen the calorie content of some of these dishes by substituting Enova oil for half or 1/3 of the olive oil in the dishes. Always use some olive oil so you still
Capture that flavor in each dish. Enova oil is a ‘good for you oil’ but you do not absorb all of its fat content.

*In any of the dishes that use sugar- even though my recipes don’t generally use a lot of sugar- so the sugar calories are minimum- you can still substitute an artificial sweetener.

*This meal contains a lot of good for you ingredients, Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, pasta, seafood, olive oil. However, I have included a small amount of alcohol in the form of spumante (sparkling wine) because this is meant to be a dinner for a special occasion. But remember alcohol does add calories- even thought there have been health benefits found- you should limit your alcohol consumption to special occasions so as not to load up on unnecessary calories, etc. I also recommend that if you drink the cocktail (Tintoretto) –you serve that with your appetizer. You should never drink alcohol on an empty stomach. And you don’t want to munch away on salty pretzels and peanuts to add more calories with your cocktail.

*If you drink the cocktail before dinner and still want to drink wine with the meal be sure to drink a small glass only with the meal. Alcohol-even wine does add calories

*Since this is meant to be a romantic meal for two- you may want to partake in a small square of dark chocolate (should be minimum of 70% cocoa to get the health benefits) with your after dinner drink.

for more recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com and recieve $5 off retail price and free shipping for a limited time only..

Ciao for now!
Maria

Panettone.. another Italian Holiday delight

Copyright, 2005-2007, Maria Liberati
Editor: Julia Tulba

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it’s time to prepare for Christmas and Christmas baking/. While visions of sugarplums are now dancing in your head and you are planning your holiday baking here is info on our favorite Christmas dessert and its’ history..Enjoy!

Christmas in Italy would not be the same if it did not include panettone, the traditional sweet bread that is prepared and enjoyed during the holiday season. Although its origins are said to be from Milan, Italy, its immense popularity has made it a requisite treat throughout the world. Panettone is no longer prepared by the Italian nonna (grandmother); in today’s global society, the sweet bread is also made in many non-Italian kitchens, as well as being a favorite item to buy in the stores. The word panettone derives from the Italian word panetto, which means a small loaf of bread. The traditional version of panettone contains orange and lemon zest, as well as raisins, which are added dry and not soaked. However, as a means of appealing to a widely diverse consumer market, other versions of panettone have been made available, such as plain or chocolate. For many panettone aficionados, however, the traditional versions remain the favorite. Most panettone breads have a cupola shape, and are served in slices that are vertically cut. A sweet hot beverage or a glass of sweet wine usually accompanies panettone. Although the process of making panettone can be a very time consuming affair, numerous recipes have been amended to make it less laborious, so that it may be enjoyed by all during the holiday season. These much easier recipes still retain the bread’s delicious taste, just when nonna made it. With its origins dating back to the Roman Empire, its popularity has made panettone a timeless classic.


This recipe is for a simpler version of panettone. You can bake this in a high but small cake pan lined with parchment paper. Or a 1 lb coffee can lined with parchment paper. Many gourmet cooking stores now carry the distinctive brown paper that commercial panettone is baked in-if you want that distinctive look.

PANETTONE
Copyright 2005-2007-Maria Liberati
From the best selling book series The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter – (softened-left out at room temperature)
1 teaspoon orange or lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups slivered almonds
2 cups golden raisins (optional)
3 cups chopped mixed dried fruits (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Take either a small high cake pan or a clean, empty 1-pound coffee can.
Line either with a parchment paper, cut to fit, and butter paper. Some paper should be overlapping top of pan or can so you will be able to take bread out when finished by lifting on edges of waxed paper.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale yellow, about 5 minutes. Beat in
softened butter, lemon peel and extracts. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking
powder and salt and blend into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir
in almonds, raisins and dried fruit. Pour batter into prepared pan or can and place
on a baking sheet. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until bread is golden on top and a
toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool bread in can for 10 minutes. Lift bread out of pan by parchment paper edges on top. Turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.
To serve, cut into thin wedges.



http://www.marialiberati.com/
http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2