Zabaglione

Zabaglione - I Say Nomato Nightshade Free Food Blog

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Having a farmer for a sister is the best. Seriously.

When she worked at a dairy farm, she would bring home jugs of whole milk, perfect for making mozzarella or ricotta or other amazing cheeses. And the ice cream…. heaven!

Now she’s working at a chicken farm, and let me tell you, we have reaped the benefits! Every time she visits my parents, she brings cartons of beautiful, large, brown, double-yolked eggs. I opened the fridge while I was home, and the top shelf was entirely eggs.

I’m from a large family, so please believe me when I tell you that when they set their minds to it, they can just about clear out the entire pantry, but even they were starting to run out of ideas of what to do with all these eggs! Tell her not to bring more? NO. WAY. Those eggs were getting eaten!

My middle brother had the brilliant idea of making angel food cake from scratch. Have you ever made angel food cake from scratch? If you haven’t, I HIGHLY recommend it! I’ve always just used cake from a box (which will do in a pinch), since I usually don’t have the required five million egg whites necessary and my blender’s in storage. But made from scratch… it’s like eating, well, angel food. The one issue: angel food cake uses only egg whites!

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So what to do with all those sunshine yellow egg yolks?

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Make zabaglione of course! (pronunciation, say it with me, za-bal-YO-nay! Although I started calling it za-bag-lee-own as a joke and now that’s how I say it in my head because my brain is a jerk) Zabaglione is also known as sabayone or zabaione, you may have heard it called that before… if you’ve heard of it at all (I had not).

This is probably one of the ‘fancier’ desserts I’ll ever make, but it’s hard to call it that considering it’s just a delicious custard made entirely of egg whites, sugar, and marsala. You heard me. Three ingredients only. One of them is sugar. One of them is cooking wine. Could this recipe BE any better? (shhhh chocolate and tiramisu, not now! your time will come!)

Usually it is served in a cup, considering it’s a custard, sometimes with a little fruit, sometimes topped with whipped cream or meringue. My family (never doing things halfway) decided to take it one step further and eat it over that heavenly homemade angel food cake… daaaang… clearly I come from a house of brilliant cooks. I’m sorry, old Italians currently rolling in your graves – I’m sure you would agree with me if you were to taste it!

Plus, in an homage to the end of strawberry season, we’re going to top it all off with these magnificent not-berries:

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What gives this recipe 3 out of 3 stars in my “Recipe Difficulty Rating” is the fact that you have to stand over a double boiler, constantly whisking and watching the thermometer for as long as it takes. My pre-carpal tunnel wrists can’t take that much whisking (I’m a writer, what can I say? I’m surprised I don’t have a full-blown case yet). AND I’m not a patient person. But I’m willing to buckle down for you, zabaglione!

This recipe comes straight from the Kitchen Bible: The Joy of Cooking.

You will also need a double boiler – there is no way to make this without one, sorry! You will also need a cooking thermometer of some kind.

Step One!: pour your egg yolks into the top of a cold double boiler.

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Step Two: add sugar and whisk away until the whole mixture is uniform. Ummm I’m just going to say here that our yolks were VIOLENTLY yellow, so our zabaglione turns out very yellow. Yours will probably not be this intense!

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Now the fun part, continuing to whisk constantly, pour in your cooking wine! (We used marsala, as is the tradition, but you can jazz it up if you like with something else, madeira, sherry, all work!)

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Turn on the heat. You want the water in the bottom of the double boiler to be at a gentle simmer. It’s important that the water DOES NOT TOUCH THE BOTTOM OF THE TOP POT. The zabaglione must be cooked OVER the heat, not ‘in’ it.

It is important to also keep whisking, and occasionally scraping the sides of the pot with a rubber spatula to make sure you don’t end up with scrambled eggs. Scrambled… wine flavoured… eggs.

Now your thermometer comes in handy – we want to cook it to 160°F (~71.1°C) at a nice, steady rate. Too fast and the custard is runny, and won’t change in volume. Too slow, and it’ll get sticky and curdle. Ew. Don’t be intimidated though, if you are heating the eggs and the water and constantly whisking and keeping an eye on that thermometer you should be golden. If you think it’s heating too quickly, just remove it from the heat and whisk more (because that’s the solution to all problems with this recipe), and let it cool a bit before putting it back on the heat.

You’ll definitely notice that it will thicken, and the whole process should only take 5-10 minutes:

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You’ll know it’s ready when you can pick it up with a spoon and it will form mounds on top when dropped:

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Like a pudding. Or a custard, which this is.

If you want a lighter option, you can fold in some whipped egg whites while it’s still warm.

And we’re done!

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You can serve it hot or cold…

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Or over some angel food cake with strawberries…

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Which I really think is the best option.

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And even though it may bother some traditionalists, Ms. Frizzle’s motto also applies to cooking.

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Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!

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Zabaglione
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 
Traditional light Italian pudding made of eggs, sugar and marsala.
Course: Dessert
Servings: 3 -4 cups
Author: Cristina
Ingredients
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dry marsala (or madeira, sherry, have fun!)
  • OPTIONAL: 4 whipped egg whites to fold in at the end for a lighter version of the recipe.
  • You will need a double boiler and a cooking thermometer for this recipe.
Instructions
  1. Combine sugar and egg yolks in the top of a cold double boiler and whisk vigorously.
  2. Whisking continuously, add marsala to the eggs and sugar.
  3. Make sure that the water in the bottom of the double boiler does not touch the bottom of the top pot. You want to cook OVER the heat, not in it.
  4. Turn on the heat and gently bring the water to a simmer underneath the zabaglione while you whisk the mixture constantly (I told you there'd be lots of whisking!). Be careful, heating too quickly will make your mixture too runny, while heating it too slowly will make it too thick and it will curdle. The whole process will take about 5-10 minutes.
  5. Keeping an eye on your thermometer, bring the zabaglione to 160°F (71.1°C).
  6. The zabaglione should increase in size and become lighter and fluffier. If you think it's heating too quickly, just remove it from the heat and whisk to incorporate more air before putting it back on.
  7. You'll know it's finished when it reaches a custard-like consistency, mounding when you pour it off a spoon.
  8. OPTIONAL 8) if you want a lighter version of the recipe, fold in whipped egg whites at the end.
  9. Serve hot, cold, with whipped cream, meringue, fruit or over angel food cake (my personal favourite). Enjoy!

Serve hot, cold, with whipped cream, meringue, fruit or over angel food cake (my personal favourite). Enjoy!

 

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About the author

Cristina

An avid lover of all things East Coast and delicious, Cristina blogs at I Say Nomato, a site dedicated to exploring and inventing allergy-friendly food. When she's not experimenting in the kitchen, she can be found curled up with a good book or planning her next adventure.