When you make Pavlova, or Meringue, or Angle Food Cake – or any other dish that makes you separate eggs with wild abandon in order to use whites on their own – you are bound to be left with a bowl of egg yolks and the never ending quandary of what to do with them.
There is always Creme Anglaise, or custard for Ice Cream or even Lemon Curd but this time I decided that Zabaglione was the go – and a perfect topping, or dipping as the case may be, for Deconstructed Chocolate Pavlova.
For a dessert with a fancy-schmancy-high-scrabble-score name, Zabaglione is remarkably easy – if only slightly clunky due to the whole double boiler situation. Plus, once you have the method down there a multitude of ideas that come to mind for variations on the theme – or is that just me… humm.
For the Pav, all I did was drop a handful of pitted black cherries in once the Zabaglione was in the serving dishes – it’s about as easy as it gets but I am sure there are many more complicated layering things you could do if sufficiently inspired.
Oh, one hint on this, stop cooking the custard as soon as it’s just on the edge of the consistency you are looking for, remove the bowl from the simmering pan and whisk for 30 sec more before scooping into serving dishes or continuing to whisk until cool over a bowl of ice water.
Don’t be tempted to grab your camera to capture the perfect ribbon state and in the meantime allow it to keep cooking – just a bit too long past silky foam and into thick-ish custard and then have to whisk in extra liquid after the fact. Not that I would do that but, you know, just in case you are tempted… Anyway, and without further ado, I give you Zabaglione.
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Zabaglione
Adapted from Taste
Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1 Tbsp coconut sugar
2 Tbsp sweet wine*
Small pinch sea salt
Full Method:
Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler, or in a pot over which a bowl will sit comfortably while not touching the water.
Place egg yolks, sugar and salt in the top of the double boiler or a heat proof [metal/glass/ceramic] bowl. Beat with an electric beater until very thick and frothy and all sugar is dissolved – approximately 4-5 minutes.
Place the bowl over the pan of simmering water and use a whisk to beat the egg mixture for a further 4-5 minutes until it begins to thicken and fall in ribbons. It will look like it is not doing anything for about 3 1/2 minutes and then wham, it thickens up quite quickly – just make sure to keep an eye on it and keep whisking.
When at the correct consistency, remove from heat and spoon into serving dishes or place bowl over ice water and continue to whisk until cool.
Serve with Deconstructed Pavlova, sponge fingers or sweet biscuits for dipping.
*Notes:
- I used Tawny Port for this. In hindsight, had I known I was serving cherries with it I probably would have used Kirsch [cherry brandy] instead. Traditional Zabagione has Marsala Wine or Champagne in it. If you want to keep it sober just use Apple Juice.
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