Tiramisù alle fragole
I’m happy to report that the tiramisù I mentioned to you last week – you know, the one that was nearlythere but still not quite right, the one you’ve likely been on the edge of your seats waiting for! – is now just where I want it, thanks to a little tweaking, testing, and trial and error-ing. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Tiramisù alle fragole, now posted on a blog near you, STARRING: the downright flashy ruby red, jewel-like strawberries from the wonderful fruit and veg shop down the street from my apartment.
So! Think of this as classic strawberries and cream crossed with tiramisù – here we have a heavenly mix of juicy Spring berries, thick, lightly sweetened mascarpone, and ladyfingers (savoiardi) which go pleasantly soft and spongey after a dip in sweet-tart strawberry juice and a rest in the fridge. The savoiardi-to-cream ratio is ideal – fair, evenly matched competitors, the cake coddled but not overwhelmed by the mascarpone – and the berries make for a lighter, fresher twist on the classic coffee and cocoa powder-laden tiramisù. Long story short; this tiramisù is true to its name — literally translated, it means “pick me up,” — and I’d be willing to bet that a bite of this could coax a bad mood in to a better one, soften the edges of a long day at work, or even effortlessly transport you to a sunny terrace in Italy. If you’re me, it makes comforting fare when the inevitable side effects of your first covid vaccine begin to appear, and you’re feeling a little tired, a lot achey, and the logical remedy is a trip to the fridge for a dish of this. Tiramisù for the win!
A couple of notes: If you’d like to make individual tiramisù, you can use this same recipe (just break the savoiardi in half to fit your dishes). You can also make this a strawberry chocolate tiramisù if you’d like, and put some grated semi-sweet chocolate in between the layers. You can also add a splash of Grand Marnier instead of the orange juice, or add some orange zest to the juice mixture if you want to up that flavor. A few leaves of mint or crumbled savoiardi make for a nice garnish. Finally, note that this should be eaten within a day or two — more than that and the berries wilt and the dessert will become a bit soggy.
Looking for other Spring-y recipes? Click here. Looking for more no-bake desserts? Click here!
TIRAMISÙ ALLE FRAGOLE
Serves 6-8.
Ingredients for the mascarpone cream:
3 egg yolks
50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
500 grams (a little more than 1 pound or 2 cups) of mascarpone cheese
Ingredients for the sugar syrup:
50 grams (about 1/4 cup) water
125 grams (a scant 2/3 cup) sugar
Ingredients for the strawberry filling:
750 grams (About 25 ounces or a little over 1 1/2 lbs) fresh strawberries
18 or so savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers)
A few squeezes of orange juice (from half a small orange)
25 grams (2 tablespoons) water
50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
To top the tiramisù:
1/2 cup (80 grams) sliced strawberries
7x11 inch (17x28 cm) rectangular serving dish.
Directions:
Start with your mascarpone cream! In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks with 50 grams (1/4 cup) of sugar until pale and foamy (this will take a few minutes). Set aside.
Make your sugar syrup (which you’ll use to pasteurize the raw egg in the recipe). Put 50 grams of water in a pot along with 125 grams of sugar, and whisk together. Attach a candy thermometer to the pot (not mandatory here, but very handy) and bring the mixture to a bubble over medium-high heat. When the thermometer shows that the water and sugar mixture has reached about 115 degrees Celsius – or when you see lots of white bubbles on the surface of the water, see photo below for reference if you don’t have a thermometer – take it off the heat. Add this sugar syrup to the egg yolks a little at a time, at a drizzle, beating constantly with electric beaters or a standing mixer. Continue beating the mixture until completely cool. This will also take a few minutes, so be patient. Once the mixture is cool, add your mascarpone, and beat until fluffy and well-combined. Cover the mascarpone cream with foil and put it in the fridge.
Wash and hull the 750 grams of strawberries, then cut them in to quarters lengthwise. Place them in a wide pan along with the sugar and water. Let the strawberries cook at medium heat for a minute or so, then add the orange juice. Let cook until the berries are soft and have released their juices. Next, take about 1 1/2 cups (for those of you who don’t use cups, we’ll say roughly 2/3 of the total mixture) of the cooked strawberries out with a slotted spoon, leaving the liquid in the pan. Set these aside in a dish — they will go in between the layers of the dessert. Let the remaining strawberry juice mixture cool, and then put it into a blender or food processor (or use an immersion blender) and process until the mixture is completely smooth.
Time to put together the tiramisu! Put the strawberry juice in a bowl, take the mascarpone cream out of the fridge, and have the savoiardi and the cooked, reserved strawberries at hand. Dip enough savoiardi to cover the bottom of your pan — I used about 9 — in the strawberry juice, being sure to immerse both sides for a few seconds. Cover the pan with a layer of strawberry-dipped biscuits, then cover with half the mascarpone cream and a few spoonfuls of strawberry juice, plus most of the reserved cooked strawberries (enough to cover the mascarpone cream abundantly) Next, repeat a layer of savoiardi immersed on both sides in strawberry juice and then the rest of the mascarpone cream (you’ll have probably used up all the juice by now, but if you haven’t, add a few spoonfuls on top).. Top the mascarpone cream with the remaining cooked strawberries.
Cover your tiramisu’ with aluminum, and then put the whole thing in the fridge and refrigerate until cold and until the biscuits have softened, a couple of hours. When ready to serve, top with the fresh strawberries as mentioned in the ingredients list above (if you want to stir these together with a sprinkle of sugar and let them sit for a while to release their juices, feel free — it makes them extra nice). Dig in.
