Tiramisu with Chef Tony in Sorrento

Not sure if I'll prepare this at home, but it was very good.  Make ahead so it can be refrigerated for at least 2 hours. 

For 12 servings - use 9x12 glass dish

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup American coffee - not espresso

+/- 1 tsp Amaretto

20 lady fingers to cover the bottom

1/2 pound ( 150 gm) mascarpone  

3 eggs separated

1 cup heavy cream

3 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp sugar

Dark chocolate chips for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1) Mascarone in one bowl

2) Yolks into the mascarpone; whites into a separate bowl

Heavy cream in a 3rd bowl

Sugar into the cream, 3Tbsp sugar into the mascarpone, and 1 Tbsp sugar into the egg whites.

Mix 2 minutes for the heavy cream, 2 minutes for the egg whites until there are soft peaks

3 minutes for the mascarpone mixture

Mix the 3 bowls together and mix with a SPATULA, 3 minutes.

Lady fingers - break one open to make sure it's not too dark.  Quickly dip the lady fingers in the coffee 'po, po' - quickly so there's no coffee on the inside.  Arrange across the bottom of the glass dish.

Cover with the mixture.

Chocolate chips 'everywhere'

REFRIGERATE for over 2 hours.

Gnocchi by Chef Tony in Sorrento

It was fun making gnocchi from scratch with Chef Tony.  It takes time and patience to roll out the dough just so.  Mine came out flat initially rather than round - he said I was too strong ;-).

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds red potatoes, cut into large chunks

2 eggs

1 lb all-purpose flour (he used Divella, farino type OO - use for pasta, gnocchi, pizza, etc - or can mix with 1:1/2 semolina for pasta with 2 eggs and a cup of milk)

DIRECTIONS:

Boil potatoes until fork goes in easily - about 20 minutes.

Then make the dough with the other ingredients.

Sort of lost track after that - maybe that's when we started drinking the wine ;-)

In small batches roll out the dough into long cigars, adding flour as needed.  Then chop lengthwise into about 1" lengths.  Cook in the marinara. 

Probably missing some essential details.  Easier to have at a restaurant!

 

Eggplant Parmigiana by Chef Tony in Sorrento

See recipe for Marinara Sauce.

For the very light simple eggplant parmigiana, here is Chef Tony's recipe.  Since I didn't want to use a whole bottle of oil, as he did, I tried preparing the eggplant slices in the air fryer.  That wasn't the greatest regarding texture, so I'll try baking them next time.  And there WILL be a next time soon!  This is so different than the heavy, solid eggplant dish we're used to here. 

He noted that in summer, eggplant is sweet.  In winter, you may need to soak it in water and sea salt to make it sweeter, using 2-3 large pinches of salt.  

INGREDIENTS:

Marinara sauce on this blog

1 small eggplant per person, peel only 2 vertical slices on opposite sides

Mozzarella - there it was buffalo mozzarella, the best; here, I found that Galvani mozzarella in small balls, sold at Giant was quite good.  Label says 'it's #1 in Italy' 

Sea salt

Few basil leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut eggplant in vertical slices, ~ 2-3 mm thick, so there is only a thin layer of peel on each side

Chef Tony then heated a large pan of oil, cooked the slices til they were slightly browned, removed them and set them on paper towels.  He said that this was the healthy way to prepare it; that if the slices stuck to the bottom, they would then absorb the oil.  This way, they don't.  The oil can be re-used but only for eggplant.  

Sprinkle slices with sea salt

In small over-proof dishes, start with a Tbsp of marinara, the eggplant, mozzarella, then one more layer but only with marinara and eggplant.   Top with a basil leaf, which can then be replaced with a fresh one after baking. 

Bake for about 15 minutes.  

It might be ok to use garlic and 2 pinches of red pepper flakes.  NO onion! 

Marinara Sauce from Chef Tony in Sorrento

Chef Tony at Quanto Baso cooking school in Sorrento was fun and informative for our group cooking lesson, arranged in advance.  In general he warned us against using garlic and onions together because they cover each other's tastes (what?!).  He said 'you Americans' use too many ingredients in your red sauce, too much garlic...  And we did notice even before this class that the marinara sauce there was light and very tasty.  

On our Food Walking Tour on our first day in Naples, our tour guide Alex had us try marinara pizza (as well as fried pizza, buffalo mozzarella, gelato, limoncello, sfogliatella and another pastry ...).  He said he knew we wouldn't believe it, but just pizza crust with just marinara is amazing.  And it was!   So it was exciting when chef Tony said we would be making some.  Remarkably, he used canned tomatoes, which helped me believe we could reproduce it at home.  At some of the places we asked, we were told the tomatoes or the onions they used can only be found in Italy, so we were convinced we would not be able to do the same here. 

With Chef Tony, and our 'classmates' from Chile, NY and Australia, we joyfully made and consumed fresh made gnocchi in marinara, delicate dishes of eggplant parmigiana, and tiramisu covered with chocolate chips - chef Tony's favorite.  

So here's the simple marinara that we enjoyed on our first night at home.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp EVOO per person

64 - 70 ounces San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes

1 clove of garlic ("not 6, not 8, but ONE), cut in pieces

2 basil leaves, torn

5 large pinches of salt

DIRECTIONS:

Heat pan on high.  Add oil, garlic and basil.  

Add the tomatoes and crush them inside the pot.

Simmer - that's it!