The Holidays always have me daydreaming about my visits to the Christmas markets in Vienna and Strasburg, in Austria.  On New Year’s Day I am always in Rome where we eat New Year’s day dinner at home  with the traditional New Year’s Day concert from Vienna on TV… So Vienna always brings back special memories for the  Holidays and besides the spiced wine you drink whilst strolling in the main squares in Vienna  and Salzburg..there is Viennese coffee.  If you can’t get to Vienna for the  Holidays you can have a  Viennese experience in your kitchen with a cup of this hot tasty drink (for the full effect, play some Mozart while enjoying this):

If you missed our Holiday Gift Guide, here it is http://tinyurl.com/yzyb4r4

Viennese Coffee

(serves 4)

4 ounces of dark chocolate- melted

1/2 cup of whipping cream

4 cups of dark espresso or espresso style coffee

1 tsp sugar

powdered cocoa

cinnamon

In large heat proof pitcher - blend cream and melted chocolate till creamy.  Add in boiling hot coffee, sugar, stir and divide into 4 coffee cups, top with some whipped cream, dash of powderd cocoa and dash of powdered cinnamon..don’t forget the Mozart!

You still have time to get a copy of the award winning book 

 The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions-winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for Best Italian Cusisine Book in America for 2009.

If you missed our Holiday Gift Guide for best products selected for their artisan quality and the ultimate experience they provide the consumer, here it is:

Holiday Gift Guide 2009

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1jim0/HolidayGiftGuide2009/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=

 Tanti Auguri (Best Wishes) for a Great Holiday

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

  copyright,2008, Maria Liberati,The Basic Art of Italian Cooking

editor: Joseph McVeigh

If cannoli is the champion of Italian desserts, tiramisu is the challenger. Although it may seem that tiramisu has been around for as long as cannoli (and in a perfect world it would have been), most people don’t know that tiramisu – as we know it today- was not created until the early 1970s by a chef named Roberto Linguanotto in the city of Treviso, Italy.

One reason tiramisu is famous is because of the rumors that surround its invention. Rumors that were not fully cleared up internationally until recently. The first of such rumors claims that tiramisu was created in the town of Siena for Duke Cosimo de Medici. The other main story is more racy and alleges that tiramisu, which translates to “pick-me-up”, was used by prostitutes to revitalize their stamina. Both tales bear some truth in that layered cakes have been around for a long time and that the eggs, sugar, and caffeine in tiramisu are energizing. But the cakes made for dukes and demimondaines were not the tiramisu we know and love today. The credit for that famous cake goes to Roberto Linguanotto and the Beccherie restaurant.

Mr. Linguanotto began work as a pastry chef at the Beccherie restaurant in Treviso in 1970. He says he was inspired by owner Mrs. Alba Campeol to “devise new, simple flavor combinations respecting the local tradition.” What he came up with is a masterpiece. Tiramisu combines simplicity with excellence to be one of Italy’s most famous and favorite desserts. But Mr. Linguanotto, despite being the creator of such a sensation, remains sensible. On his website (www.tiramisu.it/whoiam.html), he says, “I have kept trying to conceive new ideas, with just one goal in mind: my customers’ satisfaction” and that he feels “rewarded by everything I’ve managed to learn.” I think we are all rewarded by what he has managed to teach.

Tiramisu
1 1/2 cups espresso coffee

2 teaspoons sugar

4 medium eggs
1/2 cup and 2 tsps. sugar
1 lb mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
35-40 savoiardi (ladyfinger cookies)

2 tablespoons bitter cocoa powder

4 ounces of dark dark chocolate shaved (for top of cake)

Prepare a strong espresso coffee. Dissolve two teaspoons sugar in it, while the coffee is still hot. Let the coffee cool to room temperature. Seperate egg yolks from egg whites into 2 different bowls.

Add ¼ cup sugar to egg yolks and beat till creamy. In seperate bowl, beat mascarpone cheese till creamy. Continue beating while adding in (a little at a time) egg yolk/sugar mixture.

Then beat egg whites with ¼ cup sugar and pinch of salt till soft peaks form. Fold egg whites gently into mascarpone mixture with wooden spoon.

Dip half of the ladyfingers in the coffee and place in the pan in a single layer.

Spread half of the mascarpone cream on the layer of ladyfingers..

Dip the remaining ladyfingers in the coffee and

Spread the remaining mascarpone cream on top of second layer of ladyfingers.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder and decorate with chocolate shavings and refrigerate for about three to four hours.

This is the original tiramisu recipe. If you want to make this a bit lighter, I find that a mixture of 1-8 ounce container of plain lowfat yogurt whipped together with 1-8 ounce pakage of non-fat or lowfat cream cheese makes a great lower calorie substitute for the mascarpone cheese and eggs.

Substitute artificial sweetener for the sugar although there is not that much sugar I nteh recipe.

Ladyfingers are not high calories and the small amount of cocoa and chocolate are fine and not loaded with calories.

So either way you can enjoy the dessert!

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

 Contributed by Alexis Popov

Copyright 2008, Maria Liberati, http://www.marialiberati.com/  http://www.marialilberati.com/blog2

            As I danced around my Uncle Donny’s basement as a child, I was told to stay away from the long hot peppers that were strung together to dry over the boiler, because both the boiler and the peppers were too hot for my small person to touch.  I would watch intently as Uncle Donny used a thick sewing needle to thread together the peppers, attaching them all just below the base of the stem, so that they could dry either by the heat of the boiler in the winter or by the warmth of the sun- kissed bricks in the summer.  Once the peppers dried and hardened, the stems are broken off and the seeds removed, before they are placed in extremely hot olive oil to fry for three to six seconds until they are golden and crispy.  After he finishes frying, Uncle Donny places the peppers and the oil into a glass container atop the stove so that they are easily accessible, as they are used often and for many different things.  The fried peppers get crushed up and mixed into various pasta dishes, my personal favorite being pasta with fresh ricotta, while the olive oil gets used in everything from potatoes  and eggs to a midnight snack of dipping with a loaf of fresh Italian bread, for its rich, nutty, tangy favors tastes good on just about everything.  My favorite part, however, is the delicious smell that escapes as the peppers fry in the hot olive oil.  The aroma of the sizzling olive oil and crunchy peppers fuses together to make such a wonderful smell that as a kid I would routinely bring all my sweatshirts down into the kitchen as my mother fried, so that my clothing would become infused with the scent and I could retain it long after the stove had been turned off.   On my last visit to see Uncle Donny, he sat me down at the kitchen table, and with a threaded needle in one hand and a long hot pepper in the other, he demonstrated the first step of the process that has earned him the role of master fryer in my family, a role passed onto him by my great grandmother, Nana.  Nana taught Uncle Donny how to string, dry, and fry these fantastic long hot peppers, and in turn, he taught me.

            Why go through all the hassle of making your own ravioli when they come prepackaged and stress free in the supermarket?  Because making something yourself is not only rewarding, it’s fun.  I recently discovered that making ravioli from scratch is not nearly as difficult and time consuming as most people perceive it to be.  Although mixing the dough, rolling it out, and filling the ravioli is not something that I would recommend for a Monday night after work and before soccer practice, making dinner with your daughter or girlfriend on a lazy Saturday afternoon sounds like a perfect opportunity to experiment with something new in the kitchen.  Instead of using the traditional ricotta filling, try adding spinach to the mix or substituting for fresh mozzarella. Cream sauces compliment ravioli very nicely, so bust out the heavy cream and make the sauce your own by adding an ingredient that makes your mouth water like cognac or tomatoes.  So next time you’re feeling like shaking it up in the kitchen throw on some Sinatra, pour a glass of wine, and bust out the big rolling pin for homemade ravioli.

For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at: http://www.marialiberati.com and receive $5 off retail price

  copyright 2008, Maria Liberati

To every caffeine junkie who has ever stumbled into their favorite coffee bar at 7A.M. on a desperate quest for a morning fix it may seem improbable that espresso (the beverage that began our collective obsession with designer coffees) emerged from very humble origins.  The seemingly endless variety of espresso based drinks available to us today may make it difficult to believe that espresso itself was created to address a very functional need, one that we can all identify with. That being the need to cram ever more time into our increasingly busy days.

Invented at the turn of the 20^th century by Italian Luigi Bezzera, the first espresso machine was decidedly utilitarian in design.  The owner of a Milanese manufacturing company, Bezzera was eager to increase the productivity of his employees. Believing that the best way to do this was to reduce the length of his workers coffee breaks, he set out to create a machine that would brew a cup of coffee in less time than conventional machines of the day. His final product was the world’s first espresso machine, a crude and gigantic contraption that produced a cup of coffee by forcing a combination of water and steam through coffee grounds at high pressures.

While the new process did produce a much quicker cup of coffee, it also caused the coffee to taste very bitter. It was not until 1905 when Desiderio Pavoni purchased Bezzera’s patent rights to the machine that this problem was solved. Realizing that the bitter taste was a result of the high temperature steam and water passing through the coffee, he set out to find the ideal water temperature and pressure to make the perfect cup. His findings concluded that brewing a cup at 95C and between 8-10 BAR of pressure produced the best espresso. These standards remain today.

Problems still existed however; the primary one being consistency. Because espresso machines were steam operated, it required a considerable amount of skill on the part of the operator or “barista” to ensure correct water temperature by constantly monitoring the open flame heat source. This meant that all but the most skilled baristas had a very difficult time maintaining consistent steam pressure and water temperature.

Also, this system relied on the barista to regulate how long the water valve was open which allowed the heater water to pass through the grinds. This determined the volume, consistency and overall quality of the espresso and was difficult to keep uniform as well. These dilemmas made it a tricky and expensive process to produce high quality espresso consistently and in significant volumes.

These problems too, proved solvable however. In 1948 Achille Gaggia revealed to the world the first modern espresso machine. By replacing the water valve with a spring loaded piston operated by a hand lever, he was able to create a machine that did not rely on steam to drive the water through the grinds. Water was pulled into a chamber which was pushed down slowly past the grinds directly by the operator. This allowed the water to move faster and harder through the grinds, eliminating the finicky and time-consuming business of relying on steam. As a result of the added pressure, this process also produced the now famous crema, a thin layer of reddish-brown foam that floats on top of the coffee and contains the proteins, vegetable oils and sugars from the beans themselves.

Although there have been other developments in espresso production since the Gaggia machine was introduced, the process remains essentially the same and it is Gaggia’s developments which are credited with bringing espresso to the mainstream.  Hence, making a shot of espresso is still referred to as “Pulling a shot”.

Arguably the most important ingredient in the recent designer coffee fad that has taken North America by storm, espresso is the foundation upon which companies such as Starbucks have built their army of non-fat, soy based whipped cream and caramel covered concoctions.  It is ironic that something of such humble and utilitarian origins should have sparked the creation of one of the largest growing luxury industries in the world today. The development of espresso has been a uniquely Italian marriage of form and function. It is no wonder that, from a culture that prides itself on cultivating the beauty and elegance in the function of the everyday, the undisputed king of coffees has emerged. 

For more information on the history of espresso visit:

AABREE Coffee- http://www.aabreecoffee.com/articles.cfm?articleID=10

Coffee Review- http://www.coffeereview.com/reference.cfm?ID=192

For great coffee recipes, get your copy of the bestselling book- The Basic Art of Italian Cooking .Go to http://www.marialiberati.com and receive $5 off retail price.

Next Week: What makes a perfect cup? Reviewing the elements of great espresso.

copyright 2008,. art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc

Ciao for now!
Maria

http://www.marilaiberati.com

Get more recipes and info on coffee, Italy and more in the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking order your copy  at http://www.marialiberati.com

Copyright, 2008, art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc 

Editor: Dave Clancy 

 To every caffeine junkie who has ever stumbled into a Starbucks at 7A.M. on a desperate quest for a morning fix it may seem improbable that espresso (the beverage that began our collective obsession with designer coffees) emerged from very humble origins.  The seemingly endless variety of espresso based drinks available to us today may make it difficult to believe that espresso itself was created to address a very functional need, one that we can all identify with. That being the need to cram ever more time into our increasingly busy days.

Invented at the turn of the 20^th century by Italian Luigi Bezzera, the first espresso machine was decidedly utilitarian in design.  The owner of a Milanese manufacturing company, Bezzera was eager to increase the productivity of his employees. Believing that the best way to do this was to reduce the length of his workers coffee breaks, he set out to create a machine that would brew a cup of coffee in less time than conventional machines of the day. His final product was the world’s first espresso machine, a crude and gigantic contraption that produced a cup of coffee by forcing a combination of water and steam through coffee grounds at high pressures.

While the new process did produce a much quicker cup of coffee, it also caused the coffee to taste very bitter. It was not until 1905 when Desiderio Pavoni purchased Bezzera’s patent rights to the machine that this problem was solved. Realizing that the bitter taste was a result of the high temperature steam and water passing through the coffee, he set out to find the ideal water temperature and pressure to make the perfect cup. His findings concluded that brewing a cup at 95C and between 8-10 BAR of pressure produced the best espresso. These standards remain today.

Problems still existed however; the primary one being consistency. Because espresso machines were steam operated, it required a considerable amount of skill on the part of the operator or “barista” to ensure correct water temperature by constantly monitoring the open flame heat source. This meant that all but the most skilled baristas had a very difficult time maintaining consistent steam pressure and water temperature.

Also, this system relied on the barista to regulate how long the water valve was open which allowed the heater water to pass through the grinds. This determined the volume, consistency and overall quality of the espresso and was difficult to keep uniform as well. These dilemmas made it a tricky and expensive process to produce high quality espresso consistently and in significant volumes.

These problems too, proved solvable however. In 1948 Achille Gaggia revealed to the world the first modern espresso machine. By replacing the water valve with a spring loaded piston operated by a hand lever, he was able to create a machine that did not rely on steam to drive the water through the grinds. Water was pulled into a chamber which was pushed down slowly past the grinds directly by the operator. This allowed the water to move faster and harder through the grinds, eliminating the finicky and time-consuming business of relying on steam. As a result of the added pressure, this process also produced the now famous crema, a thin layer of reddish-brown foam that floats on top of the coffee and contains the proteins, vegetable oils and sugars from the beans themselves.

Although there have been other developments in espresso production since the Gaggia machine was introduced, the process remains essentially the same and it is Gaggia’s developments which are credited with bringing espresso to the mainstream.  Hence, making a shot of espresso is still referred to as “Pulling a shot”.

Arguably the most important ingredient in the recent designer coffee fad that has taken North America by storm, espresso is the foundation upon which companies such as Starbucks have built their army of non-fat, soy based whipped cream and caramel covered concoctions.  It is ironic that something of such humble and utilitarian origins should have sparked the creation of one of the largest growing luxury industries in the world today. The development of espresso has been a uniquely Italian marriage of form and function. It is no wonder that, from a culture that prides itself on cultivating the beauty and elegance in the function of the everyday, the undisputed king of coffees has emerged. 

For more information on the history of espresso visit:

AABREE Coffee- http://www.aabreecoffee.com/articles.cfm?articleID=10

Coffee Review- http://www.coffeereview.com/reference.cfm?ID=192

Next Week: What makes a perfect cup? Reviewing the elements of great espresso.

For great coffee recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati at http://www.marialiberati.com

Ciao for now!
Maria

http://www.marialiberati.com

http://mariandco.blogspot.com

Here’s a fun recipe..looks like a hamburger but is really a dessert that is good for you also..

Pineapple Pannino

(for 4)

4 sesame seed  whole grain hamburger buns

8 slices of fresh pineapple with juice

8 amaretti cookies

½ cup sugar

1 tsp powdered sugar

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tblsp flour

 Boil milk, remove from heat. Beat eggs with ¼ cup sugar until foamy. Add in flour and boiling hot milk. Place in saucepan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Cook till creamy mixture. Remove from heat.

Cut rolls in half and place pineapple juice on inside of roll- bottom half. Melt ¼ cup sugar in 2 tsps pineapple juice and 2 tsps water. Bring to a boil in separate pan. Turn up heat, add in pineapple slices for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Place a layer of cream on bottom half of bun, top with 1 slice of pineapple, crushed amaretti cookies, close roll and sprinkle powdered sugar on top, serve.

For more recipes get the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati at http://www.marialiberati.com for $5 off retail price and free shipping.

Ciao for now,

Maria

http://www.marialiberati.com

http://mariandco.blogspot.com

http://mediterraneandiet-healthy.blogspot.com