Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [275]
• Spread the vanilla or egg custard ice cream mixture over the cake lining the bowl, leaving a hollow in the center. Fill the hollow with the chocolate ice cream.
• Seal the zuccotto with cake slices as described in the basic recipe, cover with freezer paper, and place in the freezer for at least 3 hours. Transfer to the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. Unmold as described in the basic recipe, and serve at once.
CHESTNUTS
Fresh chestnuts become available at the beginning of fall and continue to come to the market through the winter. Preserved chestnut meat is sold throughout the year in cans and jars, but it is no substitute for good quality fresh nuts.
How to choose In Italy one distinguishes between two types of edible chestnuts; one is small and flat, each prickly bur that contains them bears two, and it is known as castagna comune, or common chestnut; the other is larger and much plumper, each bur contains just one, and it is known as marrone. The latter is the kind to look for, because its flesh is much juicier and sweeter. When truly fresh, chestnut skins should be glossy, unwrinkled, and the nut should feel heavy in the hand.
How to prepare The whole secret of cooking fresh chestnuts successfully rests in learning how to cut their shell, so that when they are cooked both the shell and the tough thin skin beneath will easily come away.
• After washing the nuts in cold water, soak them in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes; this step softens their shell and makes it easier to slash.
• When the nuts have finished soaking, make a horizontal cut that partly rings the middle of each one, starting at one edge of the flat side, circling the bulging belly side of the chestnut, and stopping just past the other edge of the flat side. Do not cut into the flat side itself, and keep the slash shallow so that you do not dig into the chestnut meat.
Monte Bianco—Puréed Chestnut and Chocolate Mound
ON THOSE DAYS when Milan’s veil of gray air miraculously dissolves, and through gaps in the city skyline one can see the mountains lined up on the horizon, the eye is irresistibly drawn up to the perpetually white summit of Mont Blanc, gleaming like a frosty mirage in the northern sky. Monte Bianco, to call the mount by its Italian name, has a namesake that, in the fall, makes its appearance on demand on Milanese tables: It is a pyramid of dark chocolate and pureed fresh chestnuts, topped by a snowy peak of whipped cream. We can be deeply—even if only momentarily—consoled for the end of summer and the approach of winter by the heartwarming aroma and flavor of fresh chestnuts, and in monte bianco they find their most succulent employment.
For 6 servings
1 pound fresh chestnuts, soaked and gashed as described
Milk
Salt
6 ounces semisweet chocolate in drops or chopped squares
A double boiler
¼ cup rum
A mixing bowl kept in the freezer
2 cups very cold heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1. Put the gashed chestnuts in a pot, cover amply with water, put a lid on the pot, bring the water to a boil, and cook for 25 minutes after the boil begins. Scoop the chestnuts out of the water a few at a time, peeling them while still very warm. Make sure you remove not only the outer shell, but also the wrinkled inner skin, but do not worry about keeping the chestnuts whole because you’ll be pureeing them later.
2. Put the peeled nuts in a saucepan with just enough milk to cover and a pinch of salt. Cook at a steady simmer without covering the pan until all the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler as described.
4. Puree the chestnuts into a bowl, passing them through a food mill fitted with the disk with large holes. Add the melted chocolate and rum, mixing the ingredients well. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Pass the chestnut puree and chocolate mixture through the food mill, fitted with the same disk, letting it drop onto a round serving platter. At first hold the food mill close to the edge of the dish;