Soccer Madness

Returning to Cosa Bolle, in the spring of 99 I wrote about soccer fans who ran amok and torched the train bringing them home from a loosing game. There has been a great deal of outcry against fan violence since then but it hasn't done much good; Milano's team Inter suffered a historic drubbing (0-6) at the hands of Parma in the first match of the Coppa Italia quarterfinals a couple of weeks ago. It's very difficult to overturn that sort of score, so the return match was largely an academic exercise, but they held it anyways. Catcalls for team Parma as they pulled into the stadium in Milano. To be expected, but then someone threw a Molotov cocktail at team Inter's bus as they pulled into their stadium. There's little question that the perpetrator was a disgruntled Inter fan -- no reason for Parma's fans to risk the disqualification of their team through rank stupidity -- but the reaction of the teams was striking: They played the game anyway, sending a message to the fans that they can do as they will and nothing will change. A message that also comes from the Italian soccer authorities, who had disqualified Naples's stadium after a fan threw a pole at a ref and hit the guy, knocking him over (he's lucky the thing wasn't pointed): They've just rescinded the ban. So long as nobody dies, anything goes. This is not what soccer, or sport in general, should be about.

Christmas Cakes

In the meantime, we're coming down to the wire with the Christmas rush, and busily planning menus and such. One of the most classic desserts is panettone, a light, somewhat stiff, airy Milanese holiday bread with raisins and candied fruit in the dough, which rather resembles a squat chef's hat in shape; it's difficult for a home baker to make, at least the first time. It is, on the other hand, relatively easy to make at industrial scale, and all the markets are flooded with them at this time of year, in the traditional variety (no frosting, candied fruit and raisins in the dough) and a number of variations, including traditional dough with frosting and slivered almonds on top; frosting and slivered almonds on top but no candied fruit or raisins in the dough; with frosting on top and almonds in the dough; with chocolate frosting and custard filling arranged in a spoke pattern (no fruit or almonds); with chocolate frosting and orange custard filling. To be honest, something slathered with chocolate and filled with orange custard is overkill at the end of a holiday meal.

However, it does reflect an industrialist's attempt to match what's relatively common practice: filling a Panettone. I went to a discussion of ice creams last year that ended with the owner of Vivoli, Florence's best-known gelateria (they have a card someone sent them from the Grand Canyon, addressed simply to Vivoli -- Europe on display in their shop) filling a panettone: He cut off the top, hollowed the thing out, filled it with soft, freshly made vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, put the top back on it, and chilled it. Quite tasty. One can be more elaborate, however, and here's a recipe from an old Christmas issue of Sale e Pepe, one of the major Italian food magazines: Panettone al Cassis.

To serve 8 you'll need

• 4 small panettoni (weighing about 2 pounds, 1 kilo in all -- if you cannot find small ones use a 1-k panettone)
• 8 fresh figs
• For the filling:
• 1/4 pound 9100 g) mixed candied citrus peels
• 2 tablespoons chopped toasted hazelnuts
• 1 pound (400 g -- figure a little less than a pint) whipping cream, chilled
• Powdered sugar (without starch added)
• For the Sauce:
• 1 3/4 cups (400 ml) red wine
• 6 tablespoons cassis
• 4 tablespoons honey
• A pinch of powdered cinnamon or a half a stick of stick cinnamon
• Fresh mint leaves as garnish

Set a bowl to chill in the refrigerator, and while it's doing so mince the candied fruit. Whip the cream and two tablespoons of powdered sugar in the chilled bowl, then fold in the minced candied fruit. Set the bowl in the refrigerator to chill.

In the meantime, remove the paper wrappers from the panettoni and cut the bases off a half-inch up. Carefully scoop out the insides of the panettoni without puncturing them, and then fill them with the cream mixture. Replace the bases carefully and chill the filled panettoni for a half hour or more.

While the panettoni are chilling, mix the wine, honey, and cassis in a small pot, add the cinnamon, and heat the mixture through for a few minutes, stirring gently. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot, and keep it warm.

Wash the figs, peel them if you want, and cut them into eighths. If you cannot find fresh figs use dried ones, soaking them first in a warm mixture of red wine and honey to rehydrate them somewhat, and then slice them.

Toast the hazelnuts briefly in the oven, then chop them. You are now ready to assemble your dessert: Remove the panettoni from the refrigerator and slice them. Pour the hot sauce over the bottoms of eight plates, arrange the slices of panettone and fig, sprinkle all with hazelnuts, garnish, and serve.

The scooped out panettone will be nice with coffee the next day, or even the day after: Panettone keeps very well, and traditionally the Milanese celebrate San Biagio, in Mid-February, with a slice of their Christmas panettone.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Il Panettone Milanese

Never made a panettone and really want to try? Fernanda Gosetti does say how in "Il Dolcissimo." "Before giving the recipe," she writes, "I'd like to give you some advice that's vital to the success of the panettone. As I've already said for other cakes, every chef follows a different recipe and swears by it. I've checked what I've collected with care, and the ingredients are the same; what changes are the proportions.

• "They all suggest working the dough, if possible, with mixer, because it's much easier and the dough reaches that just-ready state much faster. Just so you know, they say that the dough must be worked by hand for 50 minutes, or by machine for 20.
• "The dough has to be prepared well in advance, at least 6-7 hours, and because of this chefs usually combine the ingredients the knight before, to have something workable in the morning.
• "The room where the panettone is made has to be warm, about 72 degrees F (22 C). The flour should also be warm, about 68 F (20 C); what's generally used is 00 grade (very fine all-purpose flour) and extremely dry (my note: you may want to dry your flour in an oven, as it absorbs moisture unless it's tightly sealed). The water used should be warm, about 76 F (24 C).
• "Don't forget a pinch of salt, because it stimulates rising; a little more salt will increase the rising while less will decrease it
• "If you want your panettone to stay soft longer, add a little glucose to the dough.
• "If you're in a hurry, don't replace wild yeast with baker's yeast because the latter isn't quite right.
• "The baking time will depend upon the size of the panettone. Assuming a temperature of 400 F (200 C), half an hour will be sufficient for small to medium-sized panettoni, whereas larger ones will require considerably more. As I've said before, home ovens are best suited to small-medium-sized cakes.
• "If you want the surface to be shiny, slip a bowl of water into the oven when the panettone is half cooked to raise the humidity.
• "You'll find, for sale, panettoni that are taller than they are broad. To obtain this effect at home, you'll have to put a ring of heavily buttered thick paper around the dough when you put it in the oven, or use a panettone mold. If you instead want a panettone that's wider than it is high, like a normal bread loaf, simply put it in the oven (my note: you'll need a pizza stone or similar to do this)
• "Everyone I've talked to says to tell you not to lose heart after the first, inevitable failures, because it's a difficult cake to make."

Having said all this, here we go.

For the first rising:

6 ounces (150 g) fresh yeast cake (or biga; ask your baker for this)

4 cups (400 g) flour

3/8 cup (90 g) unsalted butter

5/8 cup (110 g) sugar

6 yolks

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (200 ml) slightly warm water

For the second rising:

2 3/4 cups (275 g) flour

5/8 cup (110 g) unsalted butter

1 pound (400 g) sultana raisins

13 ounces 9300 g) mixed candied orange and citrus peels

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 yolks

A little flour for dusting the work surface and mold

The afternoon before, begin by cutting the butter into a casserole and melting it over a very low flame or a double boiler; keep it warm enough to remain melted. Dissolve the sugar in about 3/8 cup (100 ml) of warm water.

Put the melted butter, salt, and yeast cake in a mixing bowl and mix well, then add the yolks and sugar, and sift in the flour, stirring energetically all the while. Should the dough be quite stiff add a little more water. Keep beating with great energy for about 25 minutes, throwing the dough against the sides of the bowl, until it has become smooth, velvety, and full of air bubbles. At this point put it in a lightly floured bowl large enough for it to triple in volume, cover it with a heavy cloth, and keep it in a warm (85 F, 30 C) place for about 10 hours.

In the meantime, wash the raisins, picking over them to remove sticks and whatnot, drain them well, and set them on a cloth to dry. Finely dice, but do not mince, the candied citrus peels.

When the dough is ready, turn it out on your work surface (or return it to the mixing bowl) and work in the flour, vanilla, and honey. Beet with considerable energy for about a half hour, then work in all but 2 tablespoons of the butter, which you will have melted as before, and the water, to which you will have added the salt. Continue working the dough until it becomes shiny and dry, and at this point add the fruit, working the dough to distribute it evenly. At this point you can divide the dough into pieces of the size you want; if you want to make your panettoni by weight, use a scale and figure that they'll decrease in weight by 10% during baking.

Lightly grease your hands with the butter and round the balls of dough, then put them on a board or plate and let them rise in a warm place for about a half hour. At this point lightly butter your hands again and put the panettoni in panettone molds (or put rings of stiff paler around their bases). Return them to their board and put them in a warm (68-80 F, 20-30 C, depending upon the season), humid spot to rise for about 6 hours.

Heat your oven to 380 F (190 C). Cut an x into the top of each panettone and put 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter over the cuts. Put the panettoni in the oven, and after 4 minutes remove them and quickly push down on the corners produced by the cuts. Return them to the oven and bake them until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out dry.

When chefs remove their panettoni from the oven they put them upside down in special panettone holders to keep their flanks from collapsing. In a home situation this is not practical, and you'll dimply have to cool your panettoni on a rack.

It's easy to understand why Michele Franzan, who writes for Gola Gioconda, a Florentine food magazine, suggests that you buy your panettone from a first-rate baker.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

If that seems like too much work, you might want to try the Brioche alle Quattro Crème that graces the cover of La Cucina Italiana's Christmas issue this year. It serves 12, and though it looks complex it's mostly a matter of slicing the thing up and spreading the creams across the slices. You'll need:

For the dough:

5 cups (500 g) flour

1/2 cup (100 g) unsalted butter

3/8 cup (80 g) sugar

1/6 cup (40 ml) milk

A 2/3-ounce (15 g) cake of baker's yeast

5 yolks

An orange

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

flour and butter for the mold

Salt

Torroncino Cream:

6 ounces (150 g) white chocolate

1/2 cup (100 g) whipping cream

2 ounces (50 g) crunch nougat, finely ground

Egg Cream:

1/2 cup (50 g) powdered sugar (without starch)

1/4 cup (50 g) unsalted butter

1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar

2 ounces (50 g) egg whites

6 hard-boiled yolks

Rum

Chocolate cream:

8 ounces (200 g) baking chocolate

1/2 cup (100 g) whipping cream

Powdered instant coffee to taste

Pistachio cream:

4 ounces (100 g) finely ground peeled pistachios

4 ounces (100 g) white chocolate

1/4 cup (50 g) whipping cream

Begin making the brioche the day before, by making a batter with 3 cups of the flour and the yeast, dissolved in 3/4 cup warm but not hot water; let the mixture rise for 40 minutes and then transfer it to a mixing bowl with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix it all until the dough is smooth and elastic, then let it rise for about an hour, covered, in a tepid spot. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it briefly, then shape it into a ball and put it into a buttered, floured round smooth-sided pan 4 inches high and 7 inches wide (10x 18 cm). Let the dough rise until the pan is 3/4 filled, then bake it in a 380 F (190 C) oven for an hour. Let it cool completely before filling it.

Torroncino cream: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, mix in the ground torrone and the cream, and chill them mixture, then whip it with a whip until thick and creamy.

Egg Cream: Beat the butter and powdered sugar until the mixture is pale white and frothy. Put the hard-boiled yolks through a strainer. Beat the whites to firm peaks with the granulated sugar over a double boiler (very low heat), then fold the beaten whites and yolks into the frothy butter, flavoring all with a finger (of a shot-glass) of rum.

Chocolate Cream: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stir in the cream and a little powdered coffee, chill the mixture, and then whip it until it's thick and creamy.

Pistachio cream: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stir the pistachios and cream into it, chill the mixture, and then whip it until it's thick and creamy.

When you're ready, cut the brioche into four rounds (plus the top). Spread a layer of cream over each slice, reassemble the brioche, garnish the top as you see fit (they dusted it with powdered sugar, and then a spider web of crystallized caramelized sugar), and serve. If not immediately, in a short while.

What do Italians do during the rest of the week following Christmas? Recover; Santo Stefano (the first martyr, on Dec. 26) is also a holiday, and that helps. And prepare for San Silvestro, new Year's. If you're not sure what bubbly to use, might I suggest either Bellavista (a Franciacorta), La Scolca (a Gavi), Provenza's Cà Maiöl Brut (a Lugana), or Valerio Zenato's Lugana Brut? All quite nice.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Winding down, if you still haven't decided what to give someone on your list, or want to give an Epiphany gift (January 6, the traditional day for gift-giving in Italy), might I suggest The Art of Eating Well, my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene? Published in 1891, it was the first really successful Italian cookbook, and is the book responsible for much of what we consider Italian cooking today. It's fun to read too, because of the stories Artusi tells. You can find out about it on the Artusi page of my travel site, http://www.seetuscany.com/commercial/artusi1.htm

This time's proverb is Tuscan: Non si fa cosa in terra che non sia scritto in cielo. Nothing's done on earth that isn't written in heaven.

A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine

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