Today I had the honor of working with Mary Ann Esposito, host of public television's "Ciao Italia". Her show has been on the air for 19 years, making it the longest running cooking show in television history. She came to BU to do a 4 hour demonstration of dishes from the Piedmont and Veneto regions in Northern Italy for about 40 guests. My classmates and I prepared the food in advance for all the attendees. The menu consisted of the following dishes which were each paired with Italian wines:
Venetian Marinated Fish
Risi e Bisi (Venetian style risotto with peas)
Lombardy Style Stewed Beef with Polenta cake
Torta di Nocciole (Hazelnut Cake)
Although I assisted in the prep of some of the other dishes, my main responsibility was to make the Torta di Nocciole. Now given that my baking skills are still being honed, I was a little apprehensive that I would make a mistake and the 40 people who are all paying money to attend this event would be out of a dessert. Well the powers that be were looking after me apparently, because the cakes came out beautifully (if I do say so myself). This is not your typical cake. It is very dense, almost bread-like, and not too sweet. The ground hazelnuts that fleck throughout give it a bit of a crunch. This would be the perfect cake to accompany a nice frothy cappuccino and a scoop of gelato. I could even see it being delicious for breakfast or brunch. Mary Ann's husband, who is an Italian wine connoisseur, paired the cake with a 2007 Cascina Garitina D'Acqui. This is a sparkling red dessert wine that is served chilled and is not overly sweet. After a very hot morning in the kitchen preparing this feast, it really hit the spot. I highly recommend trying it if you come across it. It is available at Winestone in Chestnut Hill for about $20.
If you have any interest in attending future food and wine demonstrations with great chefs and great food, check out BU's Food and Wine website.
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Hazelnut Cake Recipe Ingredients: 3 large eggs, yolk and white separated 1 cup sugar 4 ounces butter, softened 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 9 ounces unbleached all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup whole milk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup ground hazelnuts (buy them whole and grind in a food processor) Powdered sugar for sprinkling Butter for greasing the cake pan Plain breadcrumbs for dusting the cake pan (as you would normally do with flour) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9" cake pan and dust it with breadcrumbs. Refrigerate it until baking time. In a bowl mix the egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the butter and olive oil (I used a stand mixer for this, you can do it by hand if you choose). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, then slowly add into the egg mixture. Once incorporated, mix in the vanilla and milk on low speed of the mixer. Fold in the hazelnuts, set aside. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. You should be able to hold a spoonful of egg whites upside down without them falling off. Fold the whites into the batter in batches, taking care not to mix so much that the whites deflate. Pour the batter into the buttered and breadcrumbed cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Let the cake cool completely, remove from the pan and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with gelato if desired. I garnished each slice with a whole chocolate dipped hazelnut. Serves 8-12 |
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