Many of us are familiar with Italian cuisine, given that we live in a food paradise and are spoilt for choice when it comes to any type of food. One of my all-time favourite meals to prepare for the family that is delicious, healthy and quick to put together is Bolognese pasta. It is a simple and common dish you can find everywhere, even in the food court.
A Bolognese is typically red as it’s tomato-based. But did you know that the typical Bolognese lasagne is green, as it includes some minced spinach added to the lasagne dough? This, we found out one evening where, at the invitation of the Embassy of Italy in Singapore, some of us were invited to an intimate and exclusive evening of sampling Italian produce and getting more acquainted with Italian food products right in the Ambassador’s very own kitchen.
The highlight of the evening has to be the cooking demonstration by the very lively and humorous Alessandra Gennaro, known as the Italian food anthropologist, food writer and food lover. Her goal for the evening was to show us that the flavours of Italy can be easily recreated right in our kitchen using the fresh ingredients that are readily available in our sunny island.
Skilfully and effortlessly, she demonstrated how to make several well-known Italian dishes such as the quintessential Bolognaise Lasagne and the Tiramisu. She moved from dishes to dishes and made it look so easy that for a moment, I truly believed I could cook like an Italian and perhaps my repertoire of Bolognese pasta can finally be expanded to include other Italian dishes.
Here, we are sharing the original recipe of the famous Italian dessert – Tiramisu, by its creator, Mr Roberto Linguanotto, a chef of a Restaurant in Treviso, where this dessert was created for the first time in the 1970s.
Recipe for Tiramisu
Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 16-24 Savoiardi biscuits (Sponge fingers)
- 500g mascarpone
- 4 yolks
- 6 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 coffee cups of good and strong Italian coffee
- Cocoa powder, to garnish
Method:
- Whip the yolk with the sugar, until the mix is white. Stir in the mascarpone and whip to have a soft and moist cream.
- Pour the coffee in a small bowl and add the same amount of water to it.
- Dip in a few sponge fingers at a time, turning for a few seconds until they are nicely soaked, but not soggy.
- Layer these into the serving dish until you have used half the biscuits, and then spread over half of the creamy mixture.
- Repeat the layers, finishing with the creamy layer.
- Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. To serve, dust with cocoa powder.
