Anyone can serve an easy dessert--break out a box of chocolates, a carton of ice cream or a package of cookies and voila, instant gratification. It is also infinitely possible to serve an impressive dessert--either with a lengthy stretch in the kitchen, wrestling with pastry dough and caramelizing sugar or by laying out significant cash at a high-end patisserie. But today we have an easy and impressive dessert, starring this week's featured ingredient: vanilla. We mentioned vanilla's reputed aphrodisiac properties previously; if your dinner guests sprint to the door after ingesting our concoction, we take no responsibility. But, we guarantee that this Semifreddo will be a hit.
Semifreddo, or 'half cold' in Italian, encompasses a category of desserts including cakes, ice creams, fruits, custards or whipped creams that are partially frozen. The following has been a go-to in my repertoire for years; it is simple, elegant, and very, very delicious.
Vanilla Semifreddo
Makes 6-8 servings
2 lbs fresh ricotta cheese (at Salumeria or Downtown Cheese)
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Place all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Blend on medium high speed for 1 minute til mixture is smooth. Chill and serve.
Suggestions: Place semifreddo in large, pretty crystal bowl and top with fresh berries or melted dark chocolate. Alternatively, serve in individual martini glasses or sorbet cups, drizzled with chocolate. If you want to get really fancy, drizzle chocolate in the initial of each diner. I did this at a party last summer and my guests were impressed.
Cook's Note: This recipe can be made with the standard supermarket ricotta, and it's pretty good, but it is transcendent with fresh ricotta.
Since we gave you the real version last week, we thought a parody was in order. Vid quality is not perfect, but it's hilarious nonetheless.....
The colloquialism "plain vanilla", which implies boring, prosaic, and undesirable is simply wrong.
Vanilla is among the most expensive flavors in the world, a by-product of the exotic and exorbitantly pricey orchid plant. It is difficult to cultivate, labor intensive to process, and grows in remote, inaccessible locations, .
Vanilla is also reputed to possess amatory properties--perhaps based on a myth traced back to the Totonac people, who were the first to produce this luscious flavor. They inhabited the Mazatlan Valley in what is now Mexico. As the story goes, Totonac Princess Xanat, a divine royal, was forbidden by her father to marry a mortal youth. Displeased and rebellious, the impetuous lovers fled into the forest, where they were promptly captured by Dear old Dad's henchmen. They were then beheaded, and where the blood dripped from their severed necks, a tropical orchid (aka vanilla plant) sprouted.
Later, European physicians touted vanilla as a cure for impotence, and Thomas Jefferson (reputed to have been a bit of a Revolutionary ladies' man) is credited with bringing vanilla to the budding American Republic after sampling it during his diplomatic foray to France.
As we're discussing vanilla, we couldn't resist posting the following blast from the past. For us, this vid will have the opposite effect discussed above, but good for a chuckle, no?
