Goldy's Kitchen Cookbook (33 page)

This is a bonus recipe. It is not in any of the books. But after I finished writing this cookbook and submitted it for editing, I took a fabulous online class through Coursera:
Roman Imperial Architecture,
taught by Yale's phenomenal Professor Diana Kleiner. During the class, Professor Kleiner occasionally mentioned her favorite gelato places in Rome. She raved about Tre Scalini, where she always ordered the
tartufo.
I decided to try to figure out how to make this frozen chocolate truffle (a restaurant secret). I made several recipes for chocolate gelato, which was fun, and finally hit on a combination of flavors we liked. Making
tartufi,
though, proved quite demanding, mainly because molding the gelato into balls was challenging. Then I hit on trying the round molds used for freezing ice cubes (made by Tovolo and available online). The molds come in sets of 2, and to be on the safe side, I ordered 3 sets. I describe the mold-filling in detail in the recipe, but it is really quite easy. My taste-testers invariably said, “Whoa, that's intense!” (before their eyes rolled upward). To moderate the intensity, I found that it was important to serve each
tartufo
with a very large dollop of the whipped cream garnish as well as the cookie. If you crave what Professor Kleiner calls a “chocolate bomb,” I hope this recipe meets your expectations.

For the centers:

Place the cherries in a narrow glass or plastic container and pour the rum over them to completely cover. (Make sure the rum completely covers the cherries.) Place a piece of plastic wrap over the cherries and allow them to sit at room temperature while you work on the gelato. (They can remain at room temperature for at least a day. Longer is fine.)

For the gelato:

1.
In a large saucepan, heat the milk and ½ cup of the sugar over medium heat, stirring with a wire whisk until the sugar dissolves and the milk begins to simmer (bubbles appear around the rim of the pan). Add the cocoa and whisk vigorously, until smooth. Set aside.

2.
In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, heat the cream and the chopped chocolate, stirring until the chocolate melts. Remove the top of the double boiler from the bottom pan.

3.
Pour the milk mixture into a 4-cup glass measuring cup. Pour the mixture slowly into the cream-chocolate mixture (still in the double boiler top), whisking until well combined. Pour the mixture back into the glass measuring cup. Set aside.

4.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup sugar on high speed for 4 minutes, or until the mixture is lemon-colored and very thick. Turn the mixer to low speed, then pour the combined milk-cream mixture slowly into the egg yolk mixture. Beat well to combine.

5.
Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan. Make sure the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan. Cook over medium-low
heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a custard and covers a spoon. The thermometer should register at least 170˚F when the mixture thickens. (At high altitude, you may have to stir until the thermometer registers 180˚ to 183˚F.) Remember: You are making a custard, not scrambled chocolate eggs, so although you do need to allow the mixture to thicken, you do not want to allow the mixture to boil.

6.
Pour the mixture through a sieve into a glass bowl. Stir in the liqueurs, vanilla, and salt. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the custard (this is to prevent a skin from forming). Chill completely, preferably overnight.

7.
Meanwhile, follow the manufacturer's instructions for prepping the bowl of a gelato or ice-cream maker.

8.
Following the manufacturer's instructions, pour the custard mixture into the bowl of the gelato maker or ice-cream maker. Process about 25 minutes, until the gelato is soft set. Turn off the gelato maker and remove the bowl of gelato.

9.
Follow the directions that come with the spherical ice molds for filling them,
except
you will not be filling the molds to the fill line, but just below it, so as not to lose too much gelato when you place the tops on the molds. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the gelato into the bottom half of the first mold, to just below the fill line. Drop 1 rum-soaked cherry into the mold. Using a toothpick, gently push the cherry into the center of the gelato. Carefully place the silicone cap on the top of the first mold. If you have filled the mold to just below the fill line, you should not have much gelato squirting out the hole in the top of the mold. If you do have gelato squirt out the top of your first mold, fill the next molds even less. (Even if you do have gelato squirt out the hole in the top, do not worry, you will rinse it off later.) Depending on how well you can manage the mold-filling, you will have 4 or 5 molds filled. Freeze the molds until rock-hard, usually 4 to 6 hours, or overnight. If there is gelato left over after you fill the molds, you can freeze it in a hard plastic container for another use.

For the coating:

1.
When you are ready to make the globes into
tartufi,
make the coating. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, melt the butter with the chocolate, stirring until completely melted. Remove the top of the double boiler and allow the mixture to cool
slightly,
stirring frequently. (If the chocolate seizes up, or is too thick, reheat the mixture over simmering water, and add the additional butter, a tablespoon at a time. Stir well, until the mixture is liquid again.)

2.
Once the coating is slightly cool but still quite liquid, unroll a 12-inch square of wax paper and place it on a freezer-proof dinner plate. Remove the molds from the freezer. Working quickly, run each mold under warm tap water, remove the silicone cap from the mold, and unmold the whole globe onto the wax paper. (If you have run the mold under warm tap water and the globe still will not release, you may have to coax the chocolate globe out of the bottom half of the mold with a fork. This is okay.)

3.
Using tongs, quickly dip each frozen globe into the butter-chocolate mixture, and roll it around until it is completely covered. Place the chocolate-coated globes back on the wax paper–covered plate and place in the freezer. These are now
tartufi,
or truffles. (You may not use up all the coating, in which case you can dip large fresh strawberries into it. Place these on wax paper until firm.)

For the garnish:

When you are ready to serve the
tartufi,
whip the cream with the vanilla and powdered sugar. Place each
tartufo
into a pretty individual serving bowl, top with a very large dollop of whipped cream, and put 1 or 2 cookies on top.

Makes 4 or 5 large
tartufi

T
hese days, nutrition experts repeatedly tell us—and after all my experiments with low-fat food, which yielded me nothing, I now believe them—that the problem with Americans' diet is that it contains too many simple carbohydrates. The enemy comes in the form of sugar, flour, white bread, pasta, chips, etc. Even more of an issue is that sugar and wheat are both addictive. Some people call them “the heroin of the grocery store.” If one is trying to lose weight, it might be good to keep that in mind.

Losing weight and keeping it off is a long, slow marathon, not a sprint. With all the food-testing I did over the years, plus hours sitting at my desk working, the pounds crept on. Eating so-called low-fat food made no difference. So I finally decided to try something new, and to do it systematically, for weight loss.

I tried one diet after another and exercised endlessly, all of which proved
unsuccessful. Finally I hit on two wonderful books: Gary Taubes's
Why We Get Fat
and
Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet: A Weight-Loss Plan for Real Women,
by Neris Thomas and India Knight. (Unfortunately, the last time I checked the latter, it was out of print. You could try your local library, or if you want to buy it, The American Book Exchange at
abe.com
.)

I had two strict requirements going in. First, I didn't want to feel deprived or bored. Second, having a husband and three sons with healthy appetites, I didn't want to have to do a lot of extra cooking just for
me
. So I read the books, tried out the suggestions, and decided these were eating plans with enough variety and actual food that I enjoyed. I took the books to my doctor to see if I was a good fit, health-wise, for the eating plans the books described. He said I was. If you want to lose weight, I recommend talking to your doctor.

So I reread the books, went on the eating plan, lost thirty pounds, and have kept it off for over five years. I began each day with a hard-boiled egg, or egg salad, or tuna salad, or cheese in any number of guises. (No juice! Fruit oxidizes quickly in juice, so a glass of orange juice is like a glass of sugar.) I would have espresso with cream, not milk, and certainly no fat-free milk (thank God). Lunch was a tunafish (or other protein source) salad made with real mayonnaise over arugula and sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole (woo-hoo!). For lunches with friends, there was always shrimp or fish or other protein, and green vegetables such as spinach, green beans, and broccoli. I avoided bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes. For dinner I would prepare the usual family meal, making sure there was plenty of meat or chicken or fish for everyone. Here, too, I had no rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, or sweets. After a week, I didn't miss them. I don't like store-bought desserts, so I told the family that while I was on my new eating plan, they would have to endure grocery-store desserts. And they did. When I craved something sweet, I would have berries, sometimes lightly sprinkled with Splenda, or the Berries with Yogurt Cream (
here
).

Once the weight came off, I began to enjoy other fruits in moderation, plus the occasional cracker, cookie, piece of pie or cake, or even a
tartufo,
with no ill effects. I walk every day and work out in a gym. I feel great in my new body, have much
more energy, and my blood tests are astonishingly improved. (The only downside was that I had to spend money having my clothes altered to make them
smaller
. This is one of those good problems.)

Again, if you want to lose weight, I recommend reading the books and talking to your doctor. And speaking of doctors, I do like them. Really. In fact, one of my brothers-in-law, Dave Faison, is a radiologist. Dave helped me when I was trying to figure out who the victim would be in
The Grilling Season
. I knew the Jerk would be a suspect, and I had to figure out who it was my fictitious doctor—the character readers loved to hate—might have killed. So I asked Dave who it was that he, or most doctors, would like to kill.

Dave did not hesitate. “An HMO executive.”

When I finished the book (spoiler alert), I proudly told Dave I had killed off an HMO executive.

Dave's voice turned sad. “Only one?”

So there you have it.

There are many low-carb recipes throughout this cookbook, or recipes you can make low-carb. Snowboarders' Pork Tenderloin (
here
) is a particular favorite. You can make Quiche Me Quick (
here
) without the crust, Ferdinanda's Florentine Quiche (
here
) without the crust, and so on. What I've learned is that the main things one needs in a low-carb meal are: protein to bring up one's blood sugar for the long haul to the next meal and lots of dark green vegetables, the more variety in both of those departments, the better.

There is only one appetizer in this chapter. When you are on a low-carb eating plan, your most frequent appetizer will be nuts or a slice of cheese. My favorite nuts are pecans. My mother-in-law, now sadly deceased, gave me this recipe forty-plus years ago.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 pound pecan halves

Popcorn salt

1.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

2.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the nuts and stir to coat them with the butter. Cook very slowly, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the nuts sound hollow. (This can take 30 to 40 minutes.) Once the nuts sound hollow, they will turn brown fast, so watch carefully. As they turn brown, use tongs to remove them to the lined baking sheet. Salt them while they are warm. When they are cool, store in a covered container.

Makes about 2 cups