Panna Cotta with Grappa and Raspberries
Almond, Orange, Lemon and Whisky Cake
Italian puddings hardly exist, though throughout Italy you come across very interesting regional specialities, like the panforte from Siena or the panettone from Milan. These recipes are often such a closely guarded secret that we decided not to try and make them ourselves but to find out which ones are the best and then buy them from Italy for the restaurant.
Two of the recipes in our series are based on these delicacies. The panforte we chop and marinate in Vin Santo, which is also made around Siena and, in the fashion of flavoured Italian ice creams, we then mix it with our recipe for vanilla ice cream as it is churned.
The panettone bread pudding is made by grilling thick slices, then baking them in custard, making an Italian version of bread and butter pudding.
We still look to the seasons, particularly with our classic almond tart, using strawberries or apricots in the summer, plums or damsons in the autumn, and pears in the winter. It is a delicious and versatile tart using almonds which are a favourite ingredient in Italian puddings.
Another example is the bruschetta with peaches and nectarines. For us, what makes this recipe fit in with our way of cooking is the use of Italian brandy, marinating the fruits to flavour the bruschetta.
We were taught to add grappa to panna cotta by Giuseppe Mazzocolin, an enlightened flavouring for this creamy dessert.
In our Christmas cake, originally devised by Richard Rogers’ mother, Dada, all of the crystallised fruits are marinated in rum. It differs from the traditional Christmas cake as there is little flour, lots of chocolate, honey and an enormous amount of nuts. This is also a cake that can be made on Christmas day and eaten right away.
We love making chocolate cakes. In the T.V. programmes we chose to make two of our most popular pure chocolate recipes; both of them use the best quality chocolate and no flour but have very different baking techniques which we hope will excite you and entice you to try them.
Italian sorbets are intensely flavoured. We have included two – a summer one with beautiful, ripe raspberries and lemon, and a winter one with velvety, dark chocolate.
This sorbet is a lovely way to enjoy the taste of chocolate. It is fresh, light and easy to make, but relies on the best ingredients, particularly the cocoa powder. Use a French brandy if you can’t find Vecchio Romagna, or some Crème de Cacao, which will intensify the chocolate flavour.
Italian fruit sorbets are very simple to make, consisting only of fresh fruit ingredients, thereby retaining an intense flavour. They are usually unstrained.
This is the Italian version of the cooked creams found in other cuisines, but it is rich, delicious and powerfully flavoured by the grappa. We got the recipe from one of our wine-making friends, who uses his own grappa.
Soften the gelatine by soaking it before you put it in the cream, otherwise you could get lumps. We like to eat panna cotta with raspberries or redcurrants in the summer and caramelised blood oranges in the winter.
We make this chocolate cake every day, and it’s the most popular dessert in the restaurant. Use the cake tin size specified in the recipe; one with a different depth or circumference will alter the way the cake cooks. The bain-marie must be filled right to the rim with hot water before cooking; leave the cake in the bain-marie to cool down. The cake must be completely cold before you turn it out.
This cake contains no flour, only butter, eggs, sugar, chocolate and cocoa powder. The cake is made as normal but beaten egg whites are added so that it rises like a soufflé. When it’s risen but still moist take it out of the oven, put a plate on top, and press down with weights. The cake slowly squashes down to a dense middle with a crisp, rough edge. It is important not to overcook this cake.
This is based on a traditional almond and lemon cake of Marcella Hazan’s, but we have substituted polenta for the white flour. The cake is very light and simple to make: it’s all made in one bowl, there’s no separate beating of ingredients. The generous use of lemon complements the richness of the polenta.
The basic recipe for almond tart has been on the menu at the River Cafe since the day it started. It was originally made with pears, cooked in the almond filling. In the summer, the tart is baked first, then strawberries or raspberries are scattered on top.
The pastry technique – grating it rather than rolling it – was introduced to us by one of our young chefs. It’s a fantastic way of doing it, as it is handled as little as possible.
This is an unusual cake. The ground almonds which are added to the cake make it moist; soaking it in the orange, lemon and whisky syrup gives it an intense aroma and lovely flavour.
This recipe was devised by Dada Rogers, an Italian who moved to London during the war. She started out making a cross between English Christmas cake and Italian panforte, but over some 35 years she slowly changed the recipe. She would decrease the flour, increase the chocolate, decrease the butter, and increase the fruit.
The ingredients in this cake are very important, and must be of the very best quality. Everything must be chopped by hand, not in the processor, as nothing in this cake is smooth and refined. It can be made in different sizes and given as presents, and it keeps well.
We have taken the traditional British bread and butter pudding, and Italianised it. It uses panettone, an Italian Christmas cake-bread which is made with yeast and lots of butter. By toasting it, you give the pudding another flavour.
Panforte comes from Siena, and it’s a very rich Christmas confection, made with nuts, honey, citrus peel and spices. Icing sugar is pressed into the top. It has a texture like nougat. Vin Santo is made in the same area of Italy and is used to marinate the panforte.
This recipe comes from Le Marche where there are a lot of chestnut woods. Fresh chestnuts have to be blanched and then kept hot in order to take the peel and then the inner skin off. Pipe into a mountain shape on a large plate and cover with shaved chocolate.
Use sourdough bread as you want one that is able to absorb the fruit juices but keep its shape. Use firm summer fruits such as peaches or nectarines, not berries which will collapse in the oven. Marinating the fruits in the vanilla-flavoured sugar and alcohol is an important part of the recipe.