A Day in Florence, A Day in Rome

If you visited the blog a couple of weeks ago, you know that I recently returned from a trip through France, Italy, Greece and Turkey arranged by the Thomas P. Gohagan & Company, out of Chicago. This installment is about a couple of days in Italy, specifically the days I spent in and around Florence and Rome.

Our boat left Nice, France and sailed overnight to Livorno, a port outside of Florence. We would spend the morning walking around the area of the Duomo, near the museum that houses David, which we would visit later in the afternoon. The shops around the area feature all kinds of sweets and treats like huge mounds of gelato in every imaginable flavor.Here are some fruit and nut cakes, dense and rich. These keep very well and make great holiday gifts.

After a few hours of strolling we had built up our appetites, which were about to be thoroughly satisfied. We took a bus a short distance out of town, up into the hills to Villa Viviani. This lovingly restored, stately home is now a space used for functions such as private parties, such as ours. We strolled through the gardens to a glass-walled tent where our hostess and organizer, Elaine Trigiani awaited.

I know Elaine through the IACP (International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals). She lives in Tuscany and had arranged for our afternoon at this villa. It began with a guided sensory tasting of three Tuscan olive oils. She is a certified olive oil taster and her presentation was as delicious as it was educational. We learned about olive oil harvesting and production, about sensory evaluation, reading labels and health benefits as well.

Then we rested briefly in an adjourning garden, overlooking the city.....

and enjoyed fresh squeezed blood orange juice, prosecco from the Valdobbiadene and an array of antipasti:

Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino di grotta with honey, ricotta from Seggiano, Tuscan salami with wild fennel seeds, chicken liver crostini, and a special Sbriciolana - a salami from the Sienese black and white heritage pigs. We continued with oil-preserved baby artichokes, sweet cippolini onions, v

fritters of vegetables and zucchini blossoms, patés, salumi and prosciutto of Pratomagno carved to order.

Then it was on to a proper meal inside the villa.

We began with a porcini mushroom risotto with mint,

then papardelle with wild hare.

Onto some fabulous white beans drizzled with spicy, peppery Tuscan olive oil, and a main course of Tuscan steak, Norcia roast pork loin, and roasted potatoes and tomatoes that were so concentrated in their flavor, they were almost unbelievable. Even though they had been drizzled with oil and herbs and roasted, they tasted as though they had just been plucked off the vine. With vegetables this fresh, you could literally taste the earth. They were startling in their intensity.

Along with the meal we enjoyed a fabulous chianti. The Renzo Marinai wine is organically produced in Tuscany, but available in the U.S..

It was one of those wines that was just so easy to drink, that held its own alongside they food, yet never overpowered. I am told it is available in the States. We finished off with a chocolate zuccotto. None of us had any stomach room left – but we were not going to miss out. We made room. We then finished with Vin Santo (a sweet wine) and the classic accompaniment of Biscotti di Prato.

Here are some other pictures of the villa, inside and out. I could imagine a wedding there…..

That evening we sailed to the port of Civitavecchia, outside of Rome. While we did tour the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Church of St. Peter in Chains, I want to bring you the culinary highlights.

I was looking forward to our visit of the famed Campo de Fiori green market, and it did not disappoint. As we approached, the view was of a bustling scene.

It seemed to be made up of about half tourists and half locals, buying produce and a few flea markety items.

There were larger, very permanent looking vendors with refrigerated cased featuring cured meats and cheeses.

Fraise de bois, the tiny potently flavored strawberries were abundant; those are pomegranates behind them.

There were tomatoes of all sorts, including these squat, ridged Casalino. The aroma emanating from this stand was intoxicating.

Mushrooms were plentiful, as were tender, small cippolini onions and large purple tinged artichokes.

Several vendors offered a salad mix, which I thought was brilliant. I know we have similar products in the U.S. but these somehow seemed fresher and more creative in their blends and presentation. They just begged to be purchased, brought home and put on the table immediately.

A few things I hardly ever see stateside are these fabulous multi-colored lettuces

and zucchini blossoms in such profusion.

We then boarded buses and drove outside of Rome to the ancient (400 year old!) L’Archeologia Restaurant for a five course lunch. Here we are entering the restaurant where we sat outside under large umbrellas:

We started with a plate of roasted and fresh vegetables, fresh buffalo mozzarella and Colonnata fat bacon crostini.

Next was a soup, "etrusca style". The pasta course was so simple, yet so delicious – a very typical, classic dish. Just a bit of pasta tossed with some of the cooking water, bits of Pecorino and ham.

Here is the "recipe" as it was given to us: "Cook strangozzi (thick spaghetti) in boiling salted water. In the meantime prepare a soffritto (garlic lightly fried in oil) with diced ham and add a few drops of white wine. Add the pasta when it is cooked and cook together for 1 minute. When it is served on the dish, grate a little bit of Pecorino cheese on top".

We went on to Argentinian beef filet with ceps mushrooms and mixed fried vegetable fritters , concluding lunch with fresh fruit and tiramisu. Now, let me tell you that I was so stuffed and so uninspired by the dessert, that I almost didn’t have any….boy would that have been a mistake. It was a truly well executed rendition. Very light on the palate in taste and texture. I was so busy eating, I forgot to take a picture.

Join me on my next installment in a week or so, on the Greek Honey tasting I conducted on board Le Diamant. As you can imagine, this was a trip of a lifetime for both David and me.

Roland Mesnier - White House Pastry Chef

Many years ago, (perhaps 12?), I was lucky enough to be invited into the White House to spend a day with the pastry chef at that time, Roland Mesnier. It was a remarkable day, for so many reasons. His kitchen was so much tinier than I had expected and yet the level of work was so much more than I had ever dreamed. He was famous for never making the same dessert twice during his 25 years in service to our First Families. The day I was there he was prepping for a State Dinner and the frozen strawberry bombe, in the shape of a strawberry, was to be accompanied by a lemon compote that I will never forget.

Cases and cases of lemons were carefully peeled and sectioned. Each lemon section was painstakingly cleaned of any membrane and these were poached in a sugar syrup. The result was a sweet yet tart compote, so incredibly refined and unexpected. At the time I was writing a cover feature of him for Chocolatier magazine (which has now morphed into Dessert Professional). If you can get a hold of a copy, it is very interesting reading, which some great pictures.

Years later he participated in a public television holiday pledge special that I was taping. That day we made a buche de Noel together. The smell of chocolate on the set was intoxicating. His version was fairly modern with outsized chocolate deer and pine trees set about the display platter. The pledge special is still in rotation, so try to catch it. It should begin airing soon.

Just this week he was in my neck of the woods, appearing at UMASS, where he gave a talk about his professional life, which began at age 14. The morning of that birthday he came downstairs to find a cardboard suitcase packed for him. His family was poor, there were many children, and that was his time to make it on his own - and he never looked back.

I brought him a copy of my new book (above) and in the pic below we are discussing the finer points of making parisian style macarons. (PS: he Does like to age his egg whites, preferably for 10 days for best results). Anyone who has made these knows they can be picayune, and this was one of his best tips. There are two recipes in my new book for this type of cookie. One is a Pistachio and one is a Raspberry Rose. Sort of red and green for Christmas (OK I'm stretching a bit here, but they always impress).

Below is a pictures of my daughter's macarons, here in Espresso Creme Fraiche and Pistachio. You can see more of her work on her site, Shellco. If you are in the NY-Metro area, give them a call for a holiday order. Tell her I sent you:)

Interview and Book Giveaway

Want to win a book? Check out this Blog... This is my 3rd book with Justin Schwartz; he is a great friend AND editor. He has posted a Q&A he did with me and is offering as book giveaway. There are some great recipes that will take you through all the winter holidays. Good luck!

The BAKING BUDDY

Welcome to a new blog feature, The Baking Buddy. I write recipes with the intent of being instructive and comforting to the home baker. I try to anticipate questions that might arise when following a recipe and hand-hold through my words. Feel free to write in with Your questions and I will answer then on my blog. Email your questions to dede@dedewilson.com. They can be questions about my recipes, or baking in general. I hope to help you enjoy your time in the kitchen and help you get the best possible, most delicious results from your baking efforts! Check the blog for The Baking Buddy entries frequently. By the way, many of these questions are discussed in my new book Unforgettable Desserts (Wiley) as well. Many of these questions have been sent to me via email from readers throughout the years. I will be posting the answers that I think will be the most helpful for most bakers.

Question: I love chewy cookies, whether they are chocolate chip or oatmeal. It seems like sometimes they remain chewy and sometimes they turn crispy, even when using the same recipes! How can I ensure that my cookies remain chewy every time?

Answer: This is a great question because it is one I hear a lot – and the answer is Timing! Cookies are the smallest baked goods that we make and they are very time sensitive. Thirty seconds to 1 minute too long in the oven and a potentially chewy cookie will become a crispy one. So the first thing to pay attention to is the timing. There is residual heat on your baking pans and cookies will continue to “bake” even once they are pulled out of the oven; we must take this residual heat of the baking pans into consideration. With this is mind, if you want chewy cookies, you should remove cookies from the oven when the edges are firm but the centers are still soft. They will firm up tremendously upon cooling. If you have the extra time, bake a couple of cookies alone on a baking sheet, time them, let them cool and assess the results. Then you can fine-tune the baking time for the rest of the batch. Also, you will notice that in my books I always bake cookies on half-sheet pans with rims and use parchment paper. After writing entire books on cookies, I believe these pans give the most evenly distributed heat; they are sturdy and do not warp and will last forever with good care. Also, the parchment paper plays a key roll, beyond easy clean-up and a nonstick surface. If you have left the cookies in the oven too long, you can easily grasp the parchment paper’s edges and slide the paper, along with cookies, carefully onto a cooling rack. In this way you will immediately remove the hot pan (the residual heat source) and cease any further “baking”.

The baking sheet pans that I prefer can be found at Williams-Sonoma, among other resources.

Book Party at Magnolia Bakery

The evening of my Baking and Blogging event (see below), we continued the festivities with a Book Party. Magnolia Bakery on Columbus has a private party space that was just right for our group. Above is a pic of the entrance; we were setting up for the party. Just like the morning event, this was made possible by Driscoll's. Here is a pic of me with Marc Cervantes, a berry grower, and Kim Kulchycki, the Marketing Manager.

Below is a pic of me and my gorgeous daughter, Ravenna. She and her boyfriend, Alvin Blanco, own Shellco, a wholesale bakery that provides bakery products to many high end caterers, hotels and stores in NYC such as Dean & Deluca and the W Hotels.

Here are two pics of our dessert table. The strawberry and blueberry tartlets are bite-sized versions of full sized tarts in the book. The small square cups hold a champagne-cassis mousse that is made in a ring mold in the book...I wanted to make it easy for party-goers to sample them all!

There are also Pistachio Butterballs on the raised pedestal dish and the square cookies to the right are one-bite version of the hazelnut linzer cookies filled with Nutella - all from the book, Unforgettable Desserts (Wiley, 2009), of course.

Champagne and sparkling water flowed for the guests. The pics, once again, were taken by our photog, Peter Doyle.

Here below are my girls! Left to right my daughter Ravenna, me, and then Frederika Brookfield and Katie Levine, both my PR gals and right-hand women from Bon Appetit magazine.

Here are some close-ups of the desserts:
David Leite came when the party was in full-swing. I recently made his olive oil cake, and it was divine.

More pics of the party...how about an aerial view?

Indulging in one more....And last but not least, the folks that made this happen. Below right is Laura Baddish of The Baddish Group. I have been working with Laura for over 1o years and I love her like family

Then here below left is my editor Justin Schwartz. He gave me my first book deal with my The Wedding Cake Book, which is still in print, and this is our 3rd book together....XOXO Justin! That's his pretty GF Jen.

Email me when y'all bake from the book. I would love to hear about your baking adventures and pics are a plus! I'll put them up on the blog.

HAPPY BAKING!

Baking and Blogging

We held a Driscoll's Bakes blogging event in NYC on Thursday Oct. 1st. Nothing is better than getting a crowd going than to bake together! Driscoll's provided the opportunity along with baskets and baskets of the most gorgeous Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries and Blueberries, some of them even organic. The event was to introduce my new book, Unforgettable Desserts (Wiley, 2009), which has just hit the shelves. We baked the Brown Sugar Buttermilk Snack Cake with Blackberries and Caramel Walnut Drizzle from the Breakfast and Snack Cakes Chapter.

Kim Kulchycki, Driscoll's Marketing Manager and one of their growers, Marc Cervantes, were on hand to explain how these exquisite berries are developed, grown, harvested, transported and brought to the consumer in such pristine shape.

I approached this as a private baking class, talking the guests through the steps.

We had all the ingredients measured out so we could all jump in right away. Here are some pics of us, paired off into twos, getting the cakes mixed and into the oven.

Baking with a friend is always more fun.

The recipe is a very easy brown sugar cake that starts with creaming the butter and sugar. The juicy blackberries are scattered on top right before baking; they will sink in

Check out @SporkorFoon on Twitter:) LOL she thinks her cake was the best. What was so satisfying was to see bakers and non-bakers getting together and ALL baking these fabulous snack cakes from scratch.

Here I am testing with a wooden toothpick, which is my preferred tool for this job. I find the moist crumbs that we want to see clinging will be apparent on a toothpick more so than on a metal cake tester. Can you see how this cake is a tad overbaked and peaked and cracked? Check out the next pic.

Look at the cake on the middle left. It is evenly colored, flatter and less peaked. It was baked in my preferred pan, a Wilton Decorator Preferred pan. They are heavy duty and conduct heat evenly...this allowed me the perfect opportunity to talk to the group about the importance of equipment. The batter and oven were the same; only difference was the pan.

Here below I am whisking the caramel glaze Just until it is fluid. Everyone is looking over the pot to assess the texture of the glaze. If you whisk too long it becomes grainy, so stop just when it comes together.

Here are some of our intrepid bloggers making their own glaze.

Here we begin to spoon the glaze over the cooled cake.

The following shot is an example of our great professional photographer's work! Check out more of Peter Doyle's work HERE. Look at that caramel flow!

After a drizzle of caramel comes the berries, walnuts, then more caramel, berries and walnuts. By building it up in layers, we get a very 3D appearance. Note that some berries were baked in the cake and some are fresh on top of the cake. This technique of layering flavors is one I use frequently throughout the book.

Look at how yummy this looks

Even with us sharing a mixer and Marc and I pausing and speaking in between, we baked Four of these cakes start to finish, in less than an hour! Who says they don't have time to bake?

Below we got a kick out of comparing our cakes to the professionally styled picture in the book. Most of my bloggers thought theirs was even better! Hey, I write my books so you can be successful in the kitchen!

Side by side comparison

I hope to do more events like this....stay tuned for info.

Thank you to our bakers and bloggers!

Teanna - www.sporkorfoon.com

Christo - www.alittlebitofchristo.blogspot.com
Jordan - jordan.nonsociety.com
Robert - halogenlife.com
Evie - productpasha.blogspot.com

Unforgettable Desserts: Almond-Apricot Brownies with Tart Cherry Ganache

Photos by Alexandra Grablewski

Photo styled by Brian-Preston-Campbell

Welcome to my first Blog Post including a recipe from my new book, Unforgettable Desserts (Wiley 2009), which just became available. My intent with this book is to bring truly memorable desserts to the home baker. Desserts that create memories - and I hope, encourage you to dash back into the kitchen to bake some more! The idea was born when my editor and agent asked me why I thought my desserts tasted so good; why people seemed to go on and on about them. I pondered this question and truly, it comes down to specifics. Baking is an art but also a science. If I suggest that you use a certain flour, or a particular chocolate and you substitute another kind, the results will not be the same. Specific measuring techniques, specific ingredients and specific equipment can indeed make the difference between a good dessert and a great one that you always remember.

Now, while this may seem picayune, it is! But if you want to bake desserts that people go nuts over, I have given you all the information you need in each recipe to ensure fabulous results.

The picture above is for a very fancy bar/brownie. It begins with a buttery shortbread layer, which is topped with a layer of almond paste and a layer of apricot preserves. Crowning that is a brownie, topped off by a ganache studded with moist, plump tart cherries. Getting hungry yet? While this recipe does have several components, none of them are difficult to make and the results are fancy, mouthwatering and delectable. This dessert Does taste as good as it looks!

(PS: not all the recipes in the book are so complex. Some are simple and their "unforgettable-ness" lies in how easy they are). Happy Baking!

Almond-Apricot Brownies with Tart Cherry

Ganache

Tart cherries and apricots both blend so harmoniously with almond paste I can never decide which to use, so I have used both in this sophisticated, multi-layered bar. A crisp almond shortbread forms the base; next comes a layer of 100% fruit (no sugar) apricot spread topped with a layer of almond paste. A fudgy brownie is baked right on top and after cooling, the entire creation is spread with a bittersweet chocolate ganache bursting with moist pockets of tart cherries. (PS: This recipe uses the term “marzipan” because it sounds so much more melodious than “almond paste”; make no mistake, you need almond paste for the recipe).

Makes 32 brownies

Shortbread:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur)

Middle Layers:
1/2 cup apricot spread
10 ounces almond paste (not marzipan)

Brownie:
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, such as Ghiradelli (60%), Callebaut (71%) or Scharffen Berger (70%)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into large pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ganache:
2 cups tart cherries packed in water and drained, or frozen and defrosted
3 tablespoons Amaretto di Saronno liqueur
2/3 cup heavy cream
14 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, such as Ghiradelli (60%), Callebaut (71%) or Scharffen Berger (70%)

For the Shortbread: Position rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 13 x 9-inch pan with nonstick spray.

Beat butter until creamy with flat paddle on medium-high speed, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and continue to beat, about 3 minutes at medium-high speed, until very light and fluffy. Beat in almond extract. Add the flour and beat just until combined. Press dough evenly into pan.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until dry and just starting to color. Place on rack while preparing subsequent layers. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

For the Middle Layer: Heat apricot spread in a small pan over low-medium heat. Brush or spoon an even layer over shortbread, which will still be warm.

Roll out almond paste on a lightly floured surface to the same size and shape of the pan and about 1/4-inch thick. Place on top of apricot layer. If it breaks into pieces, that’s fine; just patch it together into an even layer, covering the apricot completely.

For the Brownie: Melt chocolate and butter together in top of double boiler or microwave. Cool briefly. Whisk in sugar, then whisk in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt just until no white streaks remain. Pour batter over almond paste layer and smooth into an even layer using a small offset spatula.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until brownie layer is dull, a bit puffed and the edges have begun to come away from the sides of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center of just the top brownie layer will show a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool completely on rack.

For the Ganache: Drain or defrost cherries, if necessary. Roughly chop them so that most of the cherries are halved, some are whole, but do not chop finely. Stir together with liqueur in small bowl and allow to macerate while you make ganache. Place cream in medium-sized saucepan over medium heat just until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle chocolate into cream. Cover and sit for 5 minutes; the heat will melt the chocolate. Stir gently until smooth, then stir in cherries and any liquid. Allow to cool at room temperature until thick enough to spread, about the consistency of soft mayonnaise. Spread evenly over brownies using a small offset spatula. Chill briefly to set glaze. Cut into 32 bars (8 x 4). Refrigerate in airtight container up to 3 days in single layers separated by parchment paper, or freeze up to 1 month.