Panettone is Milano's traditional Christmas cake, and very fine eating it is, too. It's also quite versatile, lending itself very well to being stuffed or reworked. For example, if you have leftover panettone (a distinct probability in Italy, where people often bring panettoni when they go visiting during the holidays) you could make this Bavarian cream, which is elegant enough for either Santo Stefano (the day after Christmas), or New Year's Eve. You'll need:
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 5 ounces (130 g) panettone (bought from the store ill be fine), crumbled
- 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
- 4 organically grown eggs, separated, or 4 yolks and 4 whites worth of egg white substitute
- An organically grown lemon
- An orange
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70 g) sugar
- A vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier
- 1/2 ounce sheet gelatin, or a packet of unflavored gelatin
- 4/5 cup (200 ml) heavy cream
- A double boiler
- The zest (orange part only) or the orange, cut into thin strips
Preparation:
Beat the yolks with 2/3 of the sugar, until the mixture is pale yellow and frothy. In the meantime, heat the milk with the vanilla bean and about a teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest. Do not let the milk boil, and once it has absorbed the aromas from the flavorings -- about 5 minutes -- let it cool to the point of being warm, not hot. Combine the yolks with the warm milk and heat the mixture over a double boiler, stirring gently, until it thickens, then add the crumbled panettone to it, and turn off the flame.Squeeze half the lemon and half the orange into a saucepan, add the remaining sugar to it, and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes. While it's simmering, soak the gelatin in cold water. When the time is up, squeeze the excess moisture from the gelatin and add it and the Grand Marnier to the syrup. Mix thoroughly and amalgamate the syrup mixture and the panettone mixture.
Whip, separately, the egg whites and the cream, both to moderately soft peaks. Gently incorporate them and the panettone mixture, turn everything into a ribbed pudding mold large enough to hold the ingredients, and chill in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
Before serving the bavarese, decorate it with the strips of orange zest (for a richer effect, you could also candy them before decorating the bavarese).
Note: In Italy salmonella and eggs are non synonymous, and therefore people will prepare a recipe like this with raw eggs. If you live where there is a salmonella risk associated with raw eggs, use an egg white substitute instead of raw egg whites.
